ARMY 10 MILER
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1999
By Jim Glinsky
The Army 10 Miler in Washington DC is the largest 10 mile race in the US. This year there were 16,000 entrants including 650 teams in 18 divisions. The race is put on by The Association of the US Army and the Military District of Washington and is a Runnersworld Magazine top 100 race. It's open to all runners, both military and civilian. Runners compete for open, masters, and age group awards and teams compete for trophies within their respective divisions.
I'm employed as a civilian by the 77th Regional Support Command, US Army Reserve. I ran this year on the command's team, entered in the reserve division. The 77th RSC has a very successful recent history in the Army 10 Miler. In the past 5 years they were in the top 5 in the division every year winning it twice and placing 2d twice. Last year they dropped to 5th.
This was my 1st Army 10 Miler and I definitely plan on going back. It was a great experience despite lousy weather. I flew down on Saturday and got to my room in the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, VA early afternoon. The Doubletree is race headquarters and was full of runners. It's only a short walk from the Pentagon where the race starts and finishes so it is very conveniently located. I took in the race expo on Saturday afternoon. There were over 200 exhibitors/vendors and some excellent prices on running stuff. They even had a company selling prosthetic devices for amputee runners with a live demonstration. I watched while a guy with one leg amputated at the knee put on and removed his bionic leg. I stopped in at the race clinic put on by Tom Gagliano, former coach at Georgetown and current coach of the Reebok Enclave in DC. I didn't stay long in the clinic; he was a little boring. There was a pasta dinner in the evening which I didn't attend because it was already sold out and cost $17 which I thought was way too much.
The Doubletree is close to a metro stop. That evening a teammate and I took the metro out to another teammate's house in Vienna, VA for our team pasta dinner. It was super and only cost us $5 each but it was almost midnight by the time we got back to the hotel and got to bed. Of course, taking the wrong train and having to double back didn't help.
Sunday morning we almost overslept and got up about an hour and a half later than we wanted to. We rushed around and made it to the start in plenty of time. Our command had a tent set up for us with a caterer for food and drinks before and after the race, which was great. It was a good thing we had the tent because it started to rain hard before the race and never let up until long after the race was done. The bad news was that the team tents were all in a grassy area near the Pentagon, which quickly turned to mud as thousands of runners moved around.
Despite the rain, the race logistics were handled flawlessly. Thousands of soldiers were everywhere performing "volunteer" duties. The start was excellent. Color-coded bib numbers were used to seed runners for the start. Runners lined up behind colored balloon arches matching their bib color. For the start, they used both sides of a parkway. I was in the second seeded group but my color was the 1st group on the B-side of the Parkway so I was able to get close to the front. The two sides ran different routes for the 1st mile and merged at the start of the 2nd mile. I experienced no congestion at the start. The ChampionChip was used for timing. They used the chip time for the team and age group competitions.
The start was unlike any other I experienced. No last minute instructions. We're all just standing there and then the cannon booms and we're off. We ran around the Pentagon, past Arlington Cemetery, then over the Memorial Bridge. It's quite a sight when you're running straight at the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument and the Capitol in the background. We passed the Lincoln Memorial and made a loop around past the Kennedy Performing Arts Center with the Potomac River on the right. Then back past the Lincoln Memorial and down Independence Ave along the Mall and by the Washington Monument to Capitol Hill. After running up Capitol Hill and past the Capitol building we came back down Independence Ave to 14th ST and past the Treasury DEPT and the Jefferson Memorial before crossing back over the Potomac into VA and the finish in the Pentagon parking lot. There were tons of goodies available for finishers but because of the rain we headed straight for our tent.
Despite the rain, the race was well organized and ran outstandingly well. There were digital clocks with running time at each mile. There was both water and PowerAde at every water stop and there were so many volunteers at each stop that you could take a cup, drink it, and, without slowing down, grab a 2nd cup before exiting the stop. The rain actually helped cool things off during the race. It was in the low 60s with only a light breeze. I was worried I would get blisters from the water but I was fine.
The overall winners were Chris Graff in 48:21 and Alisa Harvey in 57:47. I was happy with my race. I ran 73:15 which was 29th out of 508 in 50-54 age group and was only 53 seconds off my 10-mile PR. I thought I could get a PR but I still ran over 3 minutes faster than I did in a 10 mile race in July so I'm happy. Our team finished 7th out of 29 in our division. We were a little disappointed we didn't get a trophy but overall our time was better than last year when the team finished 5th. Our top runner finished in just over 58 minutes, which was 4 minutes slower than he ran last year.
For me, despite the rain, the Army 10 Miler was the best race experience I've had. I'll definitely go back and try to get that PR next year if I can. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to combine a great competitive race with a fun travel experience. The race website is www.armytenmiler.com.
You can find a list of local finishers in the Army 10-Miler on our out-of-town results page.
Copyright © 1999 Jim Glinsky