Course support was great for such a small race. Aid stations were well stocked with water/Gatorade and some had standard race food (candy/chips/etc). If you use gel/blocks or other energy foods you need to bring those with you as was stated in the registration information. I brought and tried Tailwind for the first time. I can't handle the caffeinated version. Too jittery. Also the Gummy Bear I selected at the halfway point had suffered from the early morning temps and was a little on the tough side. The aid station at the end was right on the trail and by that hour you really had to be aware of other trail users. I was feeling the low sugar and scarfed down two oranges. I really liked the low key atmosphere of this race and the other races as always were great. The faster races are very encouraging on the out and backs.
Based on my previous run at Cherry Blossom, I set my goal time a little on the slow side at 3:05. My ultimate goal time was to be back under 3:00. My plan was to run consistent intervals (3/1) to meet my goal and run a steady pace. The first mile was icky as it always is. I stopped shortly in to mile 2 to untangle and plug in my headphones. By this point, I had lost the bulk of the crowd (see 1st pic below-left). This is not abnormal for me as a slow runner, but the small field made this stand out even more. At this point my left calf began hurting too. I realized this was due to the almost imperceptible climb. The climb was solidified later on the course when you realize how high above the Potomac River you are when the race start was close to even with the river. There are lots to distract yourself with the river, the farm fields, remains of buildings, the canal below. There is a long stretch where the drop off is steep along one side and another area where you run through rock facing on both sides. It's very scenic with lots of time for soul searching. The course is open to other users so you need to be aware of bikers and bird watchers. After mile 3, I settled in to pace and began using other runners to pull me through. I picked out two ladies who were ahead of me that I decided I wanted to stay with. One was running nearly perfect intervals with the little variation. I decided to drop my own intervals and attempt to mimic hers. We see sawed back and forth a few times throughout the race until she pulled well ahead around mile 10. The other lady stopped for fuel and encouragement from a friend and I was able to pull ahead of her. As I dropped behind and the defeatist attitude attempted to creep in, I switched my intervals to 30/30. I ended up finishing 45 sec shy of my ultimate goal. If I had stayed with my pacer I would have made the goal! No time to beat myself up though, major chafing to repair and races to train for!