Race Report

Well, I have my first race of the season behind me and if my upcoming races turn out anything like this Saturday's 10K, I will be very happy. As you all know, I have been training hard for the Monument Avenue 10K with weekly long team runs and intense track workouts. I was pretty confident going into the race that I would PR. My previous best was 46.01 and based on my tempo runs, I was pretty sure I could beat that. In fact, I predicted that if I had a great race, I could end up running a 43.

On Friday night, our nephew Chad arrived from Lynchburg college and we all enjoyed a pleasant dinner together. Later that night Chad's parents arrived and we all got caught up on the latest news and goings on. Since we had a pretty early morning wake up, we tried to get to bed as early as possible.

Around 2:30 AM, I woke up. This happens quite often. I wake up, use the facilities, and then go right back to sleep. For some reason, I could not get back to sleep. At 3:30, I was amazed that I had not fallen back asleep. I tried reading for a little bit to see what would happen. I would start to get sleepy but then as soon as I put down my iPod, I was awake again. This went on until a little after 5 AM when I finally fell back asleep. Of course the alarm went off at 5:40AM. I calculated that I had about 3 hours of sleep when all was said and done.

We all got up and made our way down to the race venue. We were very early so we did not have to fight traffic which was nice. I decided to wear my running hat, gloves, long sleeve under armor, and black arm warmers. I also wore my gold VCU shirt that I bought just for the occasion. VCU was playing later that night in the Final Four and runners were encouraged to wear their gold and black to support the team. While I was running I got lots of "go RAMS!" cheers thrown my way. Right before the race started, I stripped off my arm warmers and hat and put them in my pocket. I had warmed up in the shade but as soon as I got into the starting corral in the sun, I knew it was too hot for arm warmers.

When the race started, I went out fast. Very fast! Too fast? Well maybe. I guess it depends on how you look at it. After all, I achieved my A+ race goal. I knew I would beat 46 and before the race when someone asked me what my goal was, I said 44. But I knew if I felt good, I could do better than that.

Honestly, during miles 3.5 to 4.5, I was not exactly feeling great. The lack of sleep was definitely a factor and I started negotiating with myself. Maybe 44 or even 45 would be an ok time. I even had some discomfort in my chest. I am sure the photos of me running will show the pain.

In the end I persevered. While I did slow down a bit during that second half of the race, I was able to maintain my pace just enough to cross the finish line in exactly 43 minutes! I was very happy although not immediately. All I was concerned about immediately following the race was oxygen and not throwing up. I walked it off and it did not take long at all for my heart rate to go down and to start feeling normal again.

It was a great race. Not only had I PR'd but so did Melissa. She crushed her previous time and finished in under an hour. Chad also PR'd with a sub 38 10K. All that hill running in Lynchburg really paid off. It was really satisfying to see all our hard work pay off in results!

The following day, Melissa and I did a half hour swim followed by a 1 hour bike ride. Unfortunately, my knee was bugging me really bad during the ride. I am hoping that I bounce back ok. As of right now, I am going to take it easy for the next couple of days. On Sunday I race my first Triathlon of the year. I can talk more about that next time. Thanks for reading. Below is the detailed data from my race.