10K Race and Cherry Blossoms

Before the race

This weekend we went down to Richmond because Jason was running in his first 10k (Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K). We drove down on Friday after work and school. Doris came with us but she ended up driving on her own. (We tried to get her to ride with us but she wanted to drive on her own.) It was a sad, sad, day for Doris. She couldn't get into the HOV lane and spent hours miserable on the highway. We met her 1/2 way down, about an hour away in Fredricksburg VA at the Red Robin. We got down there about 1.5 hours earlier and entertained ourselves at the Target and Five Below store (Aidan really, really wanted a basketball--who knew?!?). We had dinner and Doris' stress level went down by a thousand points. I rode with her the rest of the way and we got into Richmond at about 9:45pm. Marc and Cindy were waiting for us and they were so kind to put us all up and show us a super good time!

Jason getting ready to give five to Uncle Marc

Marc and Jason ran the race and their supporters (us!) were trying to catch them near the finish. Marc finished in 49 minutes and 19 seconds and Jason finished in (an amazing!) 59 minutes and 18 seconds! Marc came in 2,901 place and Jason came in 9,999 place. On the face of it one might think that is not so good but there were...wait for it, wait for it...41,314 registered participants!! We saw Jason about 200 yards from the finish line and when we saw him he was looking really good! He was running, and fast, and he had a smile on his face!!! He did amazing. Afterwards, he and Marck took a nap (as did Leo...to be fair he did get up really early) and Jason's knee was really aching. Today (Monday) he said it was feeling good. He even went to the gym today.

After the race

Later in the afternoon Cindy, Doris and I went to Careytown and shopped a little and when it started to rain we finished the shopping and went to Cafe Caturra for wine (great bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio) and snacks (breads and spreads). It was such a nice, nice weekend.

Right now is Cherry Blossom season so at work I took a nice little walk down to the tidal basin to see the beautiful, beautiful cherry blossoms. My new office is just about 5-7 minute walk from the basin. It's wonderful. In the second photo, you can also see how crowded the tidal basin is!