The quick and dirty stats:
Finishing time: 48:46
904 out of 2,372 women
143 out of 252 in the 20-24 age group

For just getting back from a knee injury and not having run consistently in two months I'm not horribly disappointed by those numbers. Sure, I would have loved to run faster, but that was not the point of this morning's race. I was using this race as a tune up for next week's half marathon -- I tested out my morning nutrition (Bagel with PB and water), my running outfit (should the weather stay similar) and carrying stuff in my fuel pack. And overall I just wanted to have fun.

Here's how things played out.

BF, our friend and I met up at the metro at 7:45 to get into D.C. in time for her to pick up her race number and timing chip. After waiting 20 minutes in the porta-potty line, we hustled to the start line with about two minutes to spare. 

Pics from the porta-potty line

The race director shouted "GO" and we were off. My friend got ahead of me at the start and I never saw her again (even though apparently I passed her somewhere on the course). I went out slow (or so I thought) and maintained a steady pace. Miles one and two flew by. 

Mile 1: 9:42

Mile 2: Don't remember but pretty speedy

There were two water stops. One a bit before the 5K and one a bit after. I walked through both and walked a little bit after hitting the 5K because my legs were tired.

My 5K split was 30:30 according to my chip time.

The third mile was truly the hardest part of the race for me. I was struggling, my legs were tired and I walked a bunch.

When I hit mile four, I knew I was close. I pushed hard through the finish thinking the BF and my friend were waiting for me. I broke into a pretty sweet kick at the finish and chicked a couple people. Heard the BF yell "Go Jess" and crossed the finish line feeling strong.

After grabbing water, we waited for our friend to cross the finish line. She did an awesome job in her first race in a while (which she thought when she was initially interested was a 5K not an 8K) finishing in 55:15.

We decided to stick around for the post-race entertainment random prizes (something I seldom do) because they were giving out six Garmins and a four-day cruise to anywhere you want to go. Alas, neither of us won the cool stuff, but I did win a water bottle. 

Overall it was a really fun race and I saw some fun costumes. The Joggler was there. OK well I'm not sure if it was really the Joggler, but someone was there running and juggling. One guy ran in a kilt. Some girl ran in a green tutu and tights. It was good times and a race I'd definitely do again.