Army Ten Miler

Rich ran the ATM on Oct 7th. We all went up the day before to check in with the race and get a nice dinner.

He had a start time of 8:15 am. He has been training with a co-worker for several months. They had managed to run a 10 mile stretch only one time before the race. We stayed quite a ways out from the race starting point, so we rode the metro to the race. The kids & I made it to a spectator point before 8:30 and we were able to catch the first wave of people racing. We were able to see the amputees running, even a blind man ran tandem with another participant. It was pretty cool. We never saw Rich at that stop so we hopped back on the metro to head to the finish line at the Pentagon. We were able to see him come around the last turn before crossing the finish; we were so excited to see him, that I didn't get his photo. :(

It was so unusually hot and humid!! When he finished the race it was already 85 and so sticky!! R said there was a water shortage along the race path, several water posts were out when he arrived. He began feeling very fatigued around mile 9 due to the lack of water. He tried to keep going, but decided to walk the last 3/4 mile. He ended up seeing friends Rob & Kristen during that time. They came up behind him so he jogged with them for a couple of minutes. R & Kristen had a bet on who would win. She crossed before him due to his walking, but R finished with a 4 minute better time than she & Rob. So, I guess they both win! I'm very proud of R for doing his first race. He wants to do it again next year. Way to go, honey!!