10K Irish Sprint Run

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

In honor of St. Patrick's today, I ran the 10K Irish Sprint Run in Quantico, VA, an event sponsored by the Marine Corps Marathon organization. It was a very early day for me – woke up at 4am, left the hotel at 4:45am, arrived at the host hotel and then hopped on a bus to Prince William State Park where the event took place. It was a bit chilly prior to sunrise but temperatures were close to 60 degrees at the race start time (8:00am).

Parts of the 10K course were very flat but other parts were quite challenging – especially the hills on the leaf covered trails. I found myself really concentrating on my footing on both the uphill and downhill segments to make sure I didn't land the wrong way and either twist an ankle or have some other calamity. I am happy to report that I finished injury free!

My finish time was 54:54. I missed a PR for a 10K by 13 seconds but that is OK because this was by far the most challenging 10K course overall that I've run thus far. And, if I were to rate the overall quality of my race today, it ranks right up there. I felt in control and very strong. I felt especially strong during the last 1 ½ miles of the race. I was able to pass quite a few runners who were bent over with slouched shoulders and breathing heavily – they were out of juice while I was kicking it in to the very end!

The best part of running this race was receiving a Golden Ticket for admission into the 37th Marine Corps Marathon which will be on October 28, 2012. And, YES, I already cashed in my golden ticket and registered for the MCM earlier today so I will be Washington bound in October!

Happy and Safe Running Everyone!
John