I love spectating races in DC because it means I have an excuse to bust out everyone's favorite race sign:



It's such a crowd pleaser and Sunday morning was no different. I had a few tourists stop to ask me if they could take a picture with the sign, and even one of the SWAT guys doing security for the race asked me about it.

I showed up to the race plenty early so I could stake out a spot at near the finish line.

I've run Cherry Blossom a few times so I know how crowded it can get toward the end with spectators and I wanted to be make sure I had front row seat. I had several friends running the race and I was hoping to spot them all.


My friend Emily was standing across the street and took this picture of me spectating. She added the nice red arrow so you know which person was me.

I got comfortable in my spot and a few minutes later the elite men and women were flying by.



They make running look so effortless.

Then came the hordes of regular runners, and I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me looking for my friends. I spotted a few people, like my friend Sam's husband and a guy who used to work at the paper with me back in college.

Sarah spotted me and yelled my name. I'm glad she did, otherwise I would have totally missed her.

My main goal was to spot my friend Ryan. It was his first Cherry Blossom and his longest race to date, and I was pretty excited to cheer for him as he finished.

I was looking everywhere, trying to scan all the faces of the runners, especially as his estimated finish time crept closer. I wasn't seeing him anywhere though, and then a few minutes later my phone beeped with a text that he was waiting for me near the Washington Monument.

I had totally missed him. Spectating fail.

Ryan kicked butt in the race, averaging something close to 9:30 per mile. Pretty awesome for his first long distance race!


Don't mind my horribly wind blown hair.

We hung out for a bit and waited for his mom to finish. She also did awesome!


Shamelessly stole this picture from Ryan.

All around it was a really great day of spectating and it made me pretty excited to be running the Nike Women's Half in a few weeks.