There is something about heading down the road on a pre-dawn weekend morning, watching the sun rise through the windshield.  We were off to the Inaugural Georgetown 10-Miler hosted by the DC Running Club.  I love 10-mile races and this inaugural race was a decent early morning drive.  Registration was limited to around 525 runners. Perfect.

It was a great day for a run with clear blue skies, a cool start and warming to the mid-50’s by the finish.
Packet pickup was held on Water Street where runners then made there way up the steps to the out-and-back course on the Capital Crescent Trail.

On this scenic course, runners had a view of the Potomac River with early morning scullers off one shoulder, and a view of Historic Georgetown on the other.

The flat course yielded some fast times with the overall finisher Alex Hetherington crossing the finish line at 55:52 and several minutes before other finishers.  The first female finisher, Bridget Holt , was also fourth overall with an impressive 1:04:22.

My friend Marge, masters runner and race director of the Resolution 5K and the Colon Cancer Prevention 5K, had a good race as well.  As for me, I had originally registered for the race but after an injury  decided to answer the call for volunteers.  If you’re a runner and haven’t yet volunteered to work at a race, I suggest giving it a try.  It’s a great way to give back to the running community.

Each time I volunteer, I learn something about organizing a race – or about racing – that I didn’t know.  And, generally, other race volunteers are just a great group of people to be around.
Post race, we made our way onto M Street for some ever-so-brief window shopping, then to check out the delectable offerings at Dean & DeLuca

and enjoy a post-race coffee before we were back on the road. 
The Georgetown 10-Miler is a welcome addition to my running calendar – and next year I’m planning to stay injury free and be back to race. Will you be there?