The Irish Sprint 10k 2011

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This was my first visit to the Marine Corps Base at Quantico and though getting to this race takes quite a bit of planning requiring a rental car and hotel, it was well worth the effort. The Marines always do everything better than everyone else and The Irish Sprint 10k was no exception. For such a small race, the turnout was well over 700 runners with most of them being Marines and family members who clearly walked to the race. I fully expected parking to be problematic race morning and was pleasantly surprised to find plenty of parking spaces right next to Butler Stadium, where the race started and finished.

Along the race course I saw numerous families running together, with dads and moms pushing sleeping babies. It was quite inspiring to see so many young families who were willing to make the extra effort to be a part of this race.

The race course took us through Quantico Marine Corps Base and past the Potomac River before working our way back toward Butler Stadium to begin the awesome one mile climb at mile four up John Quick Road. Fortunately, the last mile was all downhill and I was able to make up a little time, but even with the downhill effort, I still came in at 1:06:14. But I guess that's not too bad considering I had run a full marathon just 6 days earlier.

Each finisher received a Finisher's coin, which resembles a Challenger coin. I loved the idea of a coin rather than a medal as it's something I can carry with me. Don't get me wrong, I love getting medals, but I now have so many of them that getting something a little different was really special. Each Finisher Coin had a number imprinted on it and with several of them, the number corresponded to a prize at the end of the race. I was lucky enough to receive an online training package, which I will be using to train for the Marine Corps Marathon, though with the 4 additional marathons I'll be running this year, I'll be trained up for the Marine Corps Marathon long before it finally arrives!

I am very happy I made the effort to get to the Irish Sprint 10k this year and can now cross it off my list. It's been a goal of mine to complete each of the races in the Marine Corps Marathon series. However, given that I live 2,000 miles away from Virginia (where most of them are held) I've had to settle for completing one per year. Last year I ran the Historic Half, a 13.1 mile run through historic Fredericksburg and next year I hope to complete the Crossroads 17.75k, an 11.03 mile run through Prince William Forest, also on Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Hope you enjoy the photos...they're pretty random. See you at the Salt Lake City Half Marathon on April 16th!

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Photos

Marine Corps Memorial
"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue"

Butler Stadium
The day before...

Sprinting to the finish
Can we really call it sprinting if it took me over an hour to finish?

No Lines
Every marathoner's dream, or worst nightmare.