10k Race Report, Moving, MEN

On Saturday I ran an open 10k in 37:11. I'm quite happy with my time and more importantly, the effort, and shaved 43 seconds off my PR from December. The race was an out and back on a portion of the Capital Crescent Trail, a hiker-biker trail which connects Bethesda to Georgetown. The race was organized by the Georgetown Running Company, the running team I socialize with... I don't really train with them--when I do the group runs, it's usually right after I swim, and since the women are faster than me to begin with, a heart-attack sets in after a few minutes. I typically drop back and run on my own until we rejoin for breakfast.

Back to the race--I took it out hard. I checked my watch at 13:40 just to see where I was time-wise and knew that my pace was too labored at that point. Aided by a false flat--DOWNHILL--for the first 5k, I reached the turnaround in 17:40. When I saw the time I thought, "Wow, that's wrong. This course is short." It wasn't, so I set myself up for a nice mental toughness exercise for the last half. The men who I ran with on the way out finished 45-60 seconds ahead of me, to give you some perspective of the hill grade & my sufferfest. Excluding the masses of non-racers taking in Saturday's nice weather & shouting encouraging words, I was pretty much on my own for the return trip. I finished first and about 5 sec in front of the second woman. In the final minutes I had a inkling that I was 1) dying and 2) getting caught by the woman I saw near the turn-around, so I stuck with it as best I could to the finish. I want to be under 37 minutes and will give it another shot next month. Results for the race are available at: http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?rsID=75529&orgID=234639&pubID=2

I don't have any pics from the race, but I DO have a shot of me with my roommate, Angie, looking out of the back entrance to our new apt, or as we lovingly call it, the cage. Following the 10k, I moved into an English basement in the U-street corridor, hence the safety bars on all windows/doors. My dad came into town to help and gets the photo credit for the following action shot.

This is my fourth dwelling since the start of the year and am relieved to be settled. I didn't have access to a TV in my Feb. sublet and convinced Angie of the obvious improvements to life without basic cable.

To fill the TV void and in a matter of self-improvement, I'm playing the piano daily. Angie has a keyboard (with weighted keys!) and several times since our move, she or I have played while the other has bfast/dinner. It's wonderful listening to Angie play and since she blocks out the occasional "son of a b****" that slips out when I mess up, she enjoys my playing, too. I established a daily goal of practicing at least 10 min and plan to learn/memorize La Valse d'Amelie (from the movie, Amelie) by Easter. In April, I'm heading to the West coast for 9-days to watch LAHP race Oceanside 70.3, attend Timex camp and spend the Easter weekend with LAHP and Matt where I will perform in the inaugural "Getting the Work Done" piano recital. She and I will play a duet--something non-chopsticks.

IMPORTANT: Today, LAHP shared with me a short article titled, The 6 Men You Shouldn't Date. Ladies, file this away in your memory bank and include a hard copy in your edition of the dating bible (He's Just Not That Into You). Through education, salvation CAN be yours.

Meet & Greet

LAHP (Lauren A-something Harrison Pataky) and I are already witnessing our blog's impact on the triathlon world--err, family and friends--seeing as last Saturday, our coach, Paulo, purchased a membership at Costco. This is a great first step, but to fully capitalize on the benefits of membership, one must know how to pack and plan ahead. Never again should you be forced to pay $4.64 for THREE kitchen sponges at CVS nor buy the egregiously priced dried fruit/nut snack from SBUX to curb emergency hunger. I'll save Part II on our Big Box Store Series for another day, or rather, month, and instead, chat about how LAHP and I met and decided to share a blog.

Around this time last year I was getting ready for a 9-day "vacation" in Las Cruces, NM, my introduction to Paulo and the posse. Lauren and I were paired as roommates. Naturally, before arriving at training camp, I googled the hell out of her name with "results" or "triathlon" in the search field. My sleuthing told me she was the top amateur at Escape from Alcatraz the prior year--impressive. I didn't have much racing under my belt, but was excited with my biking and running improvements and thought I could try to hang with her.

Seeing as LAHP arrived five days into camp, it was a struggle holding her pace. I watched in disbelief as she easily ascended the stairs to our third floor hotel room between workouts. Eventually, broken down and tired, LAHP came clean on HER stalkerish tendencies and rattled off my best times from swimming. I looked at her blankly.

Anyway, after suffering and triumphing together for several days (which is roughly 1 zillion workouts), we bonded and have supported each other since then--updating each other on races, how workouts are coming along, the # of days that have passed without me needing to snack in the middle of the night, the # of animal crackers I ate with my morning coffee, etc. We feel these mind-numbing stories are truly gems and must be shared with the world.

UNRELATED: Tomorrow morning I'm running the No Rail on the Trail 10k. Sadly, the Capital Crescent Trail can NOT be saved as METRO is moving forward with plans to build a new rail line that follows the route of this beloved path. The race participants will stubbornly run out and back in a last-ditch effort to save it... some how... some way...

RELATED: Race results for a 10k I am running tomorrow will be available online for all to see within a few days at: http://www.therunningcompany.net/norailonthetrail10k.html.