Start time: 03/12/05, 9:30am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 10 kilometers / 6.2 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 4:1
Finish time: 1:01:00
Average pace: 9:50min/mile

Today was the third time that I’d run the St. Patrick’s Day 10K here in DC; in 2003 I finished with 1:24:18 (13:35min/mile), and in 2004 with 1:22:34 (13:19min/mile). This year I was determined that I was going to hit a new PR by quite a bit.

My mental goal was “anything under 1:05” although in reality I was hoping to be able to average a 10min/mile, which is 1:02 exactly. (Under one hour was the stuff of fantasies.) When I started the race today on Pennsylvania Avenue, my plan was clear: stick with my friend Randy (who would get under an hour easily) as long as possible and then hoof it as best I could the rest of the way. My friend Pam was going for the same plan, and we had several others buddies from our running group who were all also going for new PRs. Suddenly the crowd started moving and we were off.

By the time we hit mile 2, several things were clear. First, we’d just lost Pam and it was just Randy and me. Second, we were slightly off pace for Randy to hit his goal time. And third, I was not going to be able to keep up with Randy for the entire race! Sure enough, at exactly the halfway point (3.1 miles), Randy got ahead of me in the crowd and that was that. I didn’t really mind, though. I knew I couldn’t hang with him the whole way through, and it was exciting enough to actually be in the crowd of runners for a change. Stitch in my side? Pfft! Choking on a cup of water? No problem! Running up that damn hill at L’Enfant Plaza? Well, ok, that thing kicked my ass like it does every year.

When I hit mile 5, I looked at my watch and I had an unrealistic amount of time left to hit under an hour, but under 1:02 was still in reach. I pushed through without walk breaks, and while mentally it felt good, it meant that this was the first time in as far as I can remember where I didn’t have my super-adrenaline-burst to push through the last stretch of the race. I stayed steady, which was good, but I must admit I missed having the ability to zoom towards the finish line, passing people left and right.

Most importantly? This year’s finishing time: 1:01:00, or a 9:50min/mile.

Needless to say, I’m thrilled. A little tired, but thrilled. (Oh, and super-Randy? 55:45. Wow! He’s so awesome.) This time next year, that sub-59:59 finish time will be mine!

Start time: 5/4/03, 9:30am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Activity: Running
Distance: 3.1 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 13:10min/mile

Lesse. In the last update, I mentioned going running Wednesday morning. Well, I must have done something wrong then because I had an achy left calf for Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday. (On Thursday night my friend Steve even commented on me limping, which I hadn’t conciously been doing.) When I woke up Saturday morning, my calf was still hurting. Unfortunately, I’d already promised Martha and Kimberly that I’d do the MayDay 5K with them and Julie; it benefits a paralysis foundation, one of the recipients being a friend of theirs who was hit by a car while training for AIDSRide and is now wheelchair bound for life. I felt really, really bad about not not doing this, but the idea of hurting my calf more kept guilt from pushing me into doing it. (I’ve learned the hard way to not run on an injury.)

However, by Saturday evening it was feeling completely normal, so I ended up running in the Brain Tumor Society 5K with the ladies this morning instead. (Julie’s sister is a brain tumor survivor, so it meant a lot for her to have others come.) The run itself went really well—I was hoping for an under-40 minutes time and tried to hustle a bit in the last quarter mile to hit that mark (leaving the others behind—sorry about that!) but by my watch missed it by about 50 seconds. Oh well. My overall pace was still pretty good and I’m not complaining! Nice crisp, cool weather helped it being a pretty enjoyable experience.

Start time: 3/15/03, 9:30am

Location: Downtown Washington DC

Activity: Running

Distance: 10K (6.2 miles)

Run:Walk ratio: 3:2

Finishing time: 1:24:18

Average pace: 13:35min/mile

In my only nod to Monday’s holiday, I ran in the St. Patrick’s Day 10K earlier this morning, along with Julie, Martha, and Kimberly. (And about 4000 other people.) It was a lot of fun—none of us had ever run a race that was under 26.2 miles before!—and for very little preparations, we did quite well. Our speed was good (for us at any rate; we were totally at the back of the crowd with all those super-fast runners), and we were really happy with our finishing time (1:24:18). Three not-so-good things, though:

1. We never were able to find Lisa, who we were also supposed to run with (and it was her idea, no less); we aren’t sure if she didn’t make it or somehow managed to elude us the entire time.
2. There were supposed to be water stops at miles 2 and 4. Instead, the water stops were at miles 4 and 4.75. Yeesh.
3. About 200 feet from the finish line, some asshole in his car decided that he had to get across the street immediately and nearly ran us over. We yelled at him to stop (I honestly don’t think he would have otherwise) and then he had the nerve to roll down his window and tell us to calm down. Gah! To top it off, there was a DC police officer not ten feet away who didn’t do a thing. (I would have appreciated him to at least tell the guy to be careful.) Glad to see he’s doing his job.

Oh well. We still had a blast and we’re all the more excited now for the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon at the end of August!