Training Ends and the Army Ten Miler Begins

Finally October 21 arrived!!!! This was what we had been training for and now it was time to prove we could do it! Ray and I got up early on Saturday morning to go pick up Jessica's mom and catch an early flight to Washington, DC. Normally on flights I tend to read a book but the night before I didn't sleep a wink it seems. I kept going over and over in mind about the race and what needed to be done. So I slept on the plane ride to DC.

We landed at Regan Airport and normally you are left off the plane and put on a bus that takes you to the airport. Well, I guess since we were on a bigger plane we didn't have to do that. Once we landed, I let Jessica know we had landed and would be out shortly. Instead, she wasn't able to reach us because the roads getting to the airport were closed off. So we jumped on the metro and took off to Silver Springs, MD. Thankfully, Jess already picked up my packet, race bib and shirt at the Expo on Friday so we got to just chill back at their apt.

Jess and I got up early on race day and donned our Team Operation Ward 57 shirts to take the metro down to the Pentagon. How cool are these shirts?!


And the back



Here is the front



 
 

We were suppose to drive in because Chaz was going to be doing the race as well using a hand crank bike. But instead Chaz had to stay home because he gotten shingles a few days earlier. Since Chaz didn't get to race, I told him I ran for him. :) So Jess and I get up and head off to the race. Once we stepped outside the wind was howling and was pretty cold, my teeth started to chatter. But by the time we got to the Pentagon, it wasn't as bad. However the line to the porta-potty was completely insane!!! One line was going one way, the other line was going around to the ones on the other side. Whoever started those lines had to have been a man. (sorry couldn't resist)
We then took off to our corrals, I was in the last wave and Jess was in the one before me so we took a quick pic and parted ways.

 

 

 

I met up with two other members from Team Operation Ward 57, Laura and Siobhan. And we waited for the start of the race. Everyone was all chattering, you could barely hear what was going at the start line. But then a guy to my left shouted "National Anthem". Everyone got completely silent. Then the cannon shot off for the first wave of runners to take off. Slowly we inched closer and closer to the start line. Finally around 8:25ish we crossed the start line and we were off running!!!

 

I wanted to start out with a nice pace and not one so fast that I would end up out of steam before ever reaching the finish line. I did walk but not for long. I kept up with the time, because if you weren't at mile 5 by 9:45 then you were put on a bus and taken to the finish line. But even if you reached mile 5 you still had to reach mile 8 by 10:45 or that bus was there waiting on you. I sure didn't want to hitch a ride with the bus after training this long and traveling to DC for this race!!!

 

The funny part of the race was around mile 7, this lady jogs over to these soldiers and gets a cigarette. Yep, a cigarette!!! She comes beside me and 2 other ladies with it in her hand and continues to jog slowly. We all look at each and end up saying "that seems healthy, I'll just have a smoke and then try to run." This lady goes to the end of the street and stops to finish the cigarette. We all just shook our heads and giggled. I then see a fellow OPW57 team member and shout "Go Jillyan Go". Just a bit in front of me I see Heather and Jess (two more OPW57 team members and Wounded Warrior Wives). Jess whips out her phone and snaps a pic of me running towards them.

 

I keep running afraid if I stop to walk some I won't start back to running. I must say the water stations here are simply the best!!! At one stop that had water and gatorade, some of the soldiers at the end we shouting "Water Sucks, Gatorade Rocks." They were quite funny. People were constantly shouting or ringing Cow Bells (Shout out to Fisher House). Some would even hold out their hands to give you high fives!!

At mile 8, I sent a text to Ray to let him know where I was at so he could start keeping an eye out for me. However, I almost blew past him before ever realizing it was him and Kathy standing there. I thought he was more down towards the finish line, but he was before it. Here are a few snaps he got of me....

Here is where I almost missed him.

Jess wasn't far behind me... here she is making her way to the finish line!!

 

 

I started walking a bit at mile 9ish, until I spotted this Warrior up ahead of me making his way towards the finish line. I automatically picked up my feet and started back to running again. How can you not when you see this warrior not quitting?! Once I got closer, I told him "Thank You for your service. You are doing great!"

 

Here are a few more shots Ray got while waiting on me....

There were 2 Captain America's running

Here I am finally crossing the finish line!!!!! Woot Woot!!! I finished in 2:23!!!!

After crossing the finish line, I made my way on down to pick up some bananas..wait there were none! But there was water & muffins. Also got to pick up my Finisher Coin too.

 





 

 

 

 

 

 



After Jess crossed the finish line, we made our way over to the Hooah Tents. On our way we ran into the amazing Tish from Fisher House! She is simply the best!!! She told me next year I should do the Marine Corps Marathon. We shall see if I am crazy enough to do it. ;)

 

 

 

Once we got to the OPW57 tent, we chatted and had our photo taken. Then it was off to hop on the trolley to take us back to the Pentagon so we could get on the Metro. We chilled at the apt for a bit telling Chaz about the race before getting ready to head off to the airport!!

 

 

 

 

Until next year......... Can't wait to do the race again.