Washington’s Birthday Run

First place in the Kris and Ken class.

Kris and I joined a handful of other world class runners in the annual Washington’s Birthday one-mile run in Old Town Alexandria, VA, on February 20, 2012.  After a grueling couple of hyper-focused, self-directed training jaunts, our efforts paid off when we finished first and second in the exclusive Kris & Ken class.  It was truly something to see.  The run, by the way, precedes a big parade, inspired by the town’s favorite son and first president of the U.S. of A.  We crossed the wire (not really a wire) in a record 14 minutes and some-odd seconds—a personal best for both of us since, well, we had never run the race before.  I am looking to break 13 minutes in 2013.  The crowd is gonna go crazy.  It was quite intense this time around, too, with the throngs of onlookers cheering encouragement as we very nearly caught the heels of a couple of toddlers who’d been running well ahead of us most of the way.  Good thing we weren’t running in the toddler class.  Those kids are wicked.  For me, this was also a training run for the great 10-mile Cherry Blossom Run coming up in April.  (Fortunately, I came down with the flu the day before and didn’t have to run.  It would have been too embarrassing to have to throw up in a bag every 200 yards.)

George Washington's birthday parade.