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GW Parkway Classic 10 miler

April 21, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: upper 40s, clear, beautifl spring morning alng the Potomac

Comments:
Got talked into doing this by Sammy Mac back in the early winter. I knew I'd struggle to keep up the training in the spring, but all in all, it wasn't the end of the world. Still, the workload has been heavy recently, and sleep has been often 4 or 5 hours and running has taken a back seat to coaching, teaching (not to mention parenting...)

Drove Professor down to Alexandria after rising at 5:00am and took shuttle to Mt. Vernon. Napped on the grass (low 40s at the time) for 15 minutes and warmed up reluctantly with just a few rushed drills. Got out comfortably surprised by the weakness of the field and cruised unintentionally through the mostly down hill first mile in 5:53. The mile times dropped as we leveled and fluctuated as we traveled north along the river and encountered a light head wind at times and some gentle uphill stretches(mostly in the first half and another windy hill in the 8th mile). 5:53, 6:08, 6:17, 6:30, 6:27, (31:19 for 5 miles)6:18, 6:22, 6:30, 6:22, 6:02, 62:55 (6:53 chip time, 6:17 avg) I can't remember a race in my life where I was passed so often between mile one and mile 8. I did try to hold back for the first half and tried to bring more focus and confidence int he second half. Decided to be aggressive when i got to mile 8, and was pleased that I executed that plan. I'd held aobut 5-8 seconds behind McFerran from mile 1-8, but latched onto a guy to get up to Sam at the 8 mile mark. Then, I motivated enough to work back through a scraggly pack of guys who'd passed me over the next mile and a half. Ran the last 1000m alone, but did get up on the toes in the final 300m to catch a guy I'd been eying from 20 meters back. Pretty satisfied, really. Didn't know what I could do. Had kid of assumed I'd be going out near 7:00 and try to pick up the second half, but it was reassuring to see that my legs could still turn over at a 6:17 pace without really hurting very much. It is kind of pathetic how much I shy away from leaving my comfort zone, but some of that would be improved if I raced more often or if I didn't put my focus into the coaching. I was 38th overall. First and second woman passed me in the 2nd mile. I was 3rd in the 40-49 age group, but left before awards. Was nice to race with Sam and another crawler, Charlie who finished a minute behind and a minute ahead of me respectively.