Ok, I hope you are ready for my longest post ever! This is the official, 2007, MCM10k Topaz report!
First, thank you guys for all the words of support! When I came home and read them, they really touched me…especially since I didn’t have anyone at this race. I had my ‘virtual’ crowd cheering for me!
Now, a word about me and running. I’m not fast. I never have been, and my body isn’t exactly built for speed. But I love to run and chug along as best I can. I’ve done over 10 races since I moved to the DC area and I started at the very beginning. Slow. Think snail like. Every year, I’ve shaved time off of my miles, though. So, if anyone reads this and feels like it is necessary to bash my time…go right ahead. I don’t care because I know where I started from. (regular Bistro patrons, this is not directed toward you!)
My previous 10k Personal Best (PB) was 1:06:08, set last year at this same race. I pretty much knew going in today, that unless I got hit by a UPS truck, I would break that PB.
I got up nice and early (blech), and had my whole wheat toast with natural PB! Breakfast of champions, yes it is! I drank my normal amount of tea (which is a lot), but I knew I would get time to drink water before the race. I also grabbed a power bar to help tide me over until the running actually started. I chose to wear the capris (thank goodness) after checking the weather on my balcony. I packed up the clear bag they give us for drop-off with a running jacket. I didn’t think I would wear it, but it has pockets, and I put my keys, phone and metro card in the pockets, then the jacket in the bag, thinking it would be a bit safer this way. I wore this jacket last year, so I didn’t have to deal with baggage drop-off, but I got too hot to wear it, and had to accomplish un-pinning my bib, taking of the jacket, tying it around my waist, and re-pinning my bib, all while running. Not. Easy. Maybe that is why my time was so slow? I was too busy stabbing myself with safety pins.
I headed off to the metro, and was able to step right off of the stairs into a train. Good timing! The weekend metros on the blue line tend to come…oh, once every 15-20 minutes. I didn’t want to have to stand around waiting, even though I wasn’t cold…yet. The runners got off of the metro at the Pentagon, and I had no idea where I was going, but it didn’t matter…you just follow the stream of runners and hope whoever got there first knew what they were doing.
This walk ended up being at least a mile! Jeesh! I guess they don’t want us too close to the Pentagon. It was a good warm-up, and even resembled a steeplechase as we had to go over some concrete barriers. Why do they do this to us? I was so afraid that I was going to rip my tights! Along the tree line as we walked, you could see various male runners who just didn’t want to wait in the porta-potty line. I wonder if the lines were mostly female?
Finally the start was in sight! I made it over to the baggage drop, which I have to admit, the Marines do very well! There were almost 40 UPS trucks, each assigned to certain bib numbers. You find your truck, drop off your bag (which has a sticker that you got with your bib), and that’s it. After all the runners start, they just drive the trucks to Rosslyn (where the finish is), and voila!
I stepped off of the metro at the Pentagon at 7:11am. The marathon got under way on time at 8am. The 10k was supposed to start at 8:25. Unfortunately, we got all lined up, ready to go, and they made an announcement that we were on ‘hold’ because there was some kind of equipment blocking the route somewhere. We ended up starting at least 20 minutes late, and that is when I got cold. Real cold. Up until then I had been walking around, checking stuff out, but they kept telling us two more minutes…and then two more minutes…and at that point you’re all lined up and corralled in with the other runners, and you can stretch a bit, but still…VERY COLD. I was worried. But, this gave me plenty of time to plan and think ‘How will I run this race?’ Normally, especially with longer distances (and this qualified as that for me) I run negative splits. I was planning to do the same today, thinking that a slower first mile would also help me warm up. I was thinking I would stay in the 10-11 minute mile zone for the first half, and then ramp it up. I know I can run a 9-minute mile, but I can’t keep it up for too long at that pace.
Around 8:45 we got started, finally! And I kept it nice and easy and loose for that first mile. It is hard for me to do that, because that means people are passing me, and I don’t like that! But I knew what I needed to do, and I knew I would see them again!
And sure enough, at the first hill, I passed easily 100 people. I train on hills…a lot. Heh heh heh!
First mile split was about 15 seconds slower than where I wanted to be, but no reason for panic. We headed into Crystal City, which is my favorite part of the course. There are more spectators cheering you on, and usually lots of music. But this year, there was no Target Tunnel! Booohooo! It rocked running through the Target Tunnel last year! Anyway, as we headed in, the elite 10k runners were headed out. My friend Kelly (also a teacher at our school) is an elite runner sponsored by Brooks. She was supposed to do Chicago a few weeks ago, but their coach wouldn’t let them because of the heat. I got to see her as she was coming out of CC and cheer her on! At that point she was the third woman, and she finished fifth out of all the women.
Mile two had me 30 seconds AHEAD of a 10 minute mile! So somewhere in there, I made up a lot of time. That was good, though, because I knew the rest of the course was tougher, and that I might need the extra time. Mile 3, right outside of CC, was a PB for me, and had me right on track, just inside a 10-minute mile. Now, just had to hold onto that for three more miles.
Mile four was confusing. There was no marker, just two Marines calling out the numbers (which had me a minute ahead at this point!). I was so excited that I let myself take a bit of time at the next water stop. Then, we went around a turn, and there was a four-mile marker. Uh oh! Which one was right? Well, I know now that the Marines were right, but why not put the marker in the correct place?
Coming up next was the toughest part of the course…from the Pentagon up RT 110 to Rosslyn. There isn’t much there, it is mostly a slow upgrade, and the wind was whipping. I was a bit dejected because I thought I had blown my time and this is where I started to shiver. While I was running! Oh, I was so cold! But I just willed the legs to go on.
And, at mile 5, got some good news. 49 minutes! Yes! Ok, that gave me enough to keep pushing. You can see and hear the finish at the Iwo Jima Memorial (we have the same finish as the marathoners, which is kinda cool!) at this point. Just up to Rosslyn, turn around, up the hill (they call it ‘Beat the Hill’…the last .2 of the race is straight up), and I’ll have it.
And then…*zing*. Something was wrong with my left leg! ARGH! It just kind of buckled, and it was scary for a few minutes. It is fine now, but I really think it just got too cold…I’m not sure, it was the strangest thing. I only had about a half mile to go. Up the hill…the woman in front of me STOPS RUNNING and walks. I d*mn near ran her over! Get outta the way! I see the finish, I see the clock…59:58, 59:59…nooo, I’m not there yet! My clock time was 1:00:03.
That doesn’t really matter though…what matters is what the chip records as your time. I’m happy to say that it took me 32 seconds to cross the start line, which means I broke my hour. My official chip time is 59:28!!! (For those of you not familiar with this…the chip is a small timing device you attach to your shoe to give you an accurate time and pace…in bigger races like this it takes you a long time to cross the start because of all the people, and having a chip record your time gets rids of the ‘extra’ time it took you to start.) I really fell off on that last mile, though, a bit disappointing.
That is 6 minutes and 34 seconds faster than last year! ?
Afterward, I got my medal, went and got my finisher photo taken (we’ll get them WED), picked up some goodies, and headed into Rosslyn to pick up my bag and hop on the metro. I WAS FREEZING!!! I was so glad I put that jacket in my bag! On it went, and then onto the metro. Oh, my legs were so stiff! I couldn’t go down the escalator stairs (and, well, I hate escalators, so just standing there on them makes me nervous) because my knees were so stiff. Once I got to the metro platform, I did take some time to stretch, but until I finally got into the shower (and took a nap!) I was just frozen solid. I almost felt like crying I was so cold.
My friend Joy ran the marathon, for the second time, and finished in 4 hours 7 minutes. Another friend of mine, Christine, WON our age group in the 10k. And I already told you about Kelly. So, I have some fast friends! Heh, heh…I’m the slow poke!
All in all, not bad, but I’m still not feeling too well. I much prefer a little bit of heat. Between now and the end of the year I think I will just focus on the tourney in FL and not do another race (I had been considering another 10k in two weeks). I’m thinking I may do the Army 10 miler again next year, since that is a few weeks earlier…it should be warmer! Also, my 10-miler time is rather pathetic, so I think that needs to be addressed!
Official race stats:
Time - 59:28
Pace - 9:34.5
788th out of 1553 finishers
346th out of 831 women