The cherry blossom race is so beautiful, my best advice would be to ditch the watch (or at least any GPS watch) and enjoy the scenery and the fact that we CAN attend races again! If you’re running with a friend, make sure you can talk the whole time— that’ll stop you from going out too fast. Enjoy!!

Be careful on hills, especially if you haven't done any outdoor racing in awhile. ITB flare-ups are real on that first race back. Just go nice and easy, and resist trying to race up. 

Yes! Just enjoy the race and the process of running - have fun with it!

And this is why I continue to not run even a second below a 12-minute mile. I'll never be disappointed.

The last race I ran was all the way back in April 2019. Next weekend, I’ll be running the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. 

Obviously, a lot has changed between 2019 and now, including my level of fitness. I’ve gotten considerably slower (like, a whole minute slower per mile), and I’m anticipating fighting the urge to go faster, knowing I could possibly hurt myself if I push it too much. 

So, anyone who has gotten back to racing post-pandemic… any advice for that first race? Any learnings?

Post-pandemic race advice? 

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