On July 4th this year I signed up on the day and took part in the Washington’s Crossing Revolutionary Run 10K. This was quite a change for me as I usually don’t do many races last minute. I’m quite the planner when it comes to my race activities (see here). This is also the location where I did the Bucks County Duathlon and the ‘Chasing The Unicorn’ Marathon.

On the day before the race I saw a message from a friend and Mickey Milers teammate saying he would be in the area for the weekend and was looking to see if anyone was interested in running this race. For the last few years we have always been away for the holiday weekend and in the years prior to that I wasn’t a runner so this race was never on my radar. So, my wife gave me the ok and I was all set to go. I mentioned it to my father in law at dinner the night before the race and he said he was interested in joining me. Ultimately my friend had a very long day in New York City and decided that he wasn’t going to be there so my father in law planned to go if the weather cooperated in the morning.

The race start was 8:30 am and was a 20 minute ride from my house so I got to sleep in a little. Hey, it was a holiday weekend. The rain early in the morning stopped around 6am and we decided to make a go of it. We arrived early enough to register and saw that there were plenty of same day participants. The parking was down the street from the start/finish area in Washington Crossing Historic Park but was easily walkable. It was a much more crowded event than I had anticipated.

As it was July 4th I was prepared with my INKnBURN ‘Sam’ Tech Shirt. Yes, as long as I kept my mouth shut, no-one would be the wiser that this incarnation of Uncle Sam was originally from Great Britain. I guess there is some irony in me wearing the shirt. Anyway, I was there representing all naturalized US citizens so I could get away with it….just. I don’t think my father in law was too impressed but I think he knows me well enough now that nothing surprises him anymore 🙂

There were 3 races, a 1 mile fun run, a 5K and a 10K. All were timed at separate intervals of 15 minutes between each start so we had time as the earlier races moved to their designated points.

We didn’t see the 1 mile fun run go off but we headed to our designated starting line (the one spray painted on the road outside the park) and waited in the corral/crowd with everyone else.

So…when you are at Washington’s Crossing Historic Park on July 4th you tend to see a lot of Revolutionary War reenactors and today was no different. We were actually lined up next to an area where they were setting up a period style outdoor camp for later in the day. The race director gave out instructions for the 5K ahead of us and said to wait for the ‘go’. He didn’t mention what the ‘go’ signal was, or if he did we didn’t hear him. We were chatting away in the corral when there was the most incredibly sharp BANG! Yes, the starting gun was a Revolutionary period musket. We both jumped as we were not expecting that. Okay, we knew what the ‘go’ was now for the 10K but again where we were in the crowd for the 10K start we didn’t hear the race director’s instructions for our turn to go and again we were caught off guard when the musket was fired again. I can only imagine how my heart rate spiked at that point. Funny though. You’d have thought we would have been a little more aware. Maybe my shirt was distracting people 😉

The course itself took a small loop inside the park and then there was an out and back for about 5 miles on River Road (Pennsylvania side) which was closed off for the occassion follwed by another half mile loop around through the park to the finish line. It was a fairly flat course with the only elevation towards the turnaround. There were adequate water stations on the course which was good for it is was a hot and humid morning. For the 10K I wore my daily use water belt so I didn’t really have to stop as I had an 8 ounce bottle with me.

As I wasn’t really planning to run this event I had no expectations on time or any planned pace but I just went out and ran how I felt. Since I’ve been experiencing a back issue for the last couple of months (in fact I had already visited the chiropractor twice in the last three days) I wasn’t sure what I would feel like.

Well, I guess I just got all caught up in the excitement of it all. It was very crowded at the start so I skipped my usual Galloway run/walk interval but settled in soon after that and managed to hold a good pace. As the course was relatively flat it was nice and easy to maintain my pace. We ran in the shade of the trees alongside the river (although it was overcast) but it was still a hot and humid day.

I managed to complete my 10K in a time of 52:34. Not close to my PR from a couple of years ago (I don’t run many 10K’s) but respectable enough for me based upon my recent form.

My father in law came in just after the hour mark and he seemed happy too, especially as it had suddenly become much warmer towards the end of the race.

I was pretty happy with the result and pretty happy with the slices of fresh watermelon at the finish. It was a sweet reward for a last minute race. After that we headed back home and spent the rest of the holiday with the family at the pool before catching some fireworks later in the day.

Hope you all had a very good 4th July holiday wherever and however you celebrated.

Thanks for reading.