Preppy Runner – Theodora Blanchfield

These are the faces of three very happy runners after the Bronx 10-Miler.

I’ve really missed running, and it’s a good way to work miles into a long run, so I signed up for this bad boy a few weeks ago.

I’ve also not run a 10-miler since the Army Ten-Miler in 2009 when I first started running, so I really wanted to do a race of that distance. I ran that at a pace of 11:58, so I knew that even though I’d be running on tired legs today, I’d still PR!

I had to get in 18 and Rebecca had to get in 20, so we met up to run up to the Bronx together. I ran over to meet Rebecca in the East 20s. I think it was probably about 3/4 of a mile but I couldn’t get satellites right away and was running late, so I decided to just think of it as a warm-up. She mapped out a route up First Ave for us, and we ran from 27th Street all the way up to the Willis Ave Bridge, and then up Willis Ave to 161st and over to the start near Yankee Stadium.

So many hills in the first 8.

As we got close, I looked at Rebecca and said “OMG, we just ran to Yankee Stadium!” When you run to a place, it usually makes it feel closer than the subway. It took me around an hour to get home from Yankee Stadium on the subway the other night–maybe I should have just run?

Rebecca and I are generally the same pace, so she’s great to run with. She’s also running Marine Corps, which I’m really excited about. It’s also fun to run with her, because she’s really smart about her health and her training (she’s also a physical therapist), so I feel like I always learn something running from her.

We got to the corrals about 5 minutes before the race started, which was perfect.

Clearly we didn’t lose each other with our bright tops.

Because this wouldn’t be a race recap without an OMG-the-corrals-were-so-crowded shot.

The sunrise was lovely.

Rebecca and I didn’t know a thing about the course–we were both more interested in our long runs, so we didn’t do any research and just signed up.

After running all the way up First, we really hoped it wasn’t that hilly. The announcer mentioned something about the course being an out-and-back, which didn’t sound too awesome either. The course ended up not being too bad, though. There was one section where it deviated for a few miles from the straight out and back, which was really nice.

We ran into Ben pretty early on in the race and ended up running with him for the rest of the race, which was awesome. Not that Rebecca and I were sick of each other, but it was nice to add some new blood in there.

Not my fastest race ever, but still a 10-miler PR! With, you know, 8 miles before it.

I’m a happy girl right now. And off to the U.S. Open, so really and truly, ridiculously happy right now.

Did you run or race this weekend? Favorite race distance?