Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Arlington 9/11 Memorial 5k
Date:	Saturday, September 4, 2004
Location:	Arlington, VA
Race Type:	Run - 5 km
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	0:16:33
Overall Place:	3
Comment:	Solid run (open 5k PR) in the middle of lots of running

Race Report:

Someone pointed this race out to me as a flat, fast 5k just before Reston, my first A-priority race of the race season. I figured it'd be a good opportunity to test my fitness and get into race mode. Hold that thought.

As I move into my trio of A races that round out the last three weeks of September, Ironman Florida looms on the horizon, the first week of November to be exact. Looking over my schedule I realized this week would be my last to log serious run volume before I settle into a pattern of race, relax, race. This is all just a boring introduction to my weekend mileage. Twelve miles Friday morning, twelve Saturday morning (two sixes sandwhiching a mostly easy 25-mile bike ride), <insert 5K here>, and then 18.5 miles on Sunday. By Sunday morning at noon I'd have 70 miles in my legs for the week.

So I toed the 5k start line a little curious. I was pretty sure I could hold a hard effort for a little more than three miles. I wasn't sure what the pace that effort would produce, but I thought I could hold the effort. Looking around at the start I didn't see many fast looking folks, save two. As it turns out, they were the only other *fast* folks there. One guy, a little older looking, looked like a *runner*. I wasn't sure if he was fast, but he seemed the kind of guy that ran, ran a lot, and loved it. The other guy looked like a *greyhound*. Light, long, and young looking, he seemed the kind of guy that raced, raced a lot, and liked it.

This is a memorial run for the police, fire, and rescue crowd. There's a strong competition for the team awards amongst the law enforcement crowd (and there's a fire ladder above the start which is kinda cool) and right at the start one of the teams goes out like a bat out of hell. I follow the two guys I spied earlier and, sure enough, after about 1/2-mile we pass the eager law enforcement guys and are quite alone. At this point, the pace seems fine and I'm running just behind the other two, but my mouth is terribly, terribly dry. I assume this is a result of dehydration from the day's earlier workouts :(

As we hit the first mile, I see that we have just run a sub-5 mile. I wasn't sure by how much (I generally start my watch about 10-20s before the race start and my watch read 5:03), but in the last 1/4-mile leading up to the 1-mile mark I started to feel the pace. As we approached the mile mark I just pushed and told myself to ignore the tired body. Once I saw our mile split I realized I was out of my league and eased up a bit to a more natural pace.

At this point, runner dude (as opposed to racer dude) starts to gap us. Racer dude seems to fade just a tad and I fad a bit more. I focus on my breathing and focus on running hard. I think of all the people that died on 9-11 and how they will never have a chance to do what they love. I'm pushing hard, and it's not the easiest thing, or (at that very moment) the most enjoyable thing, but I'm lucky to be alive, to be racing, and to be third, so I do my best. That was probably the most time I've spent thinking about 9-11 since 9-12, and in that sense the race was a success.

Anyway, not much changed for the rest of the race. I regained a little bit on racer dude as runner dude disappeared around the bends, but it was minimal at best. All in all I put out a solid effort. The heat wasn't terrible; in fact, it was a great night to be outside. I chased after racer dude and tried to sustain a solid effort (looking at my HR afterward, I did a decent job after going out a little to fast). It turns out I clocked 4:56/5:23 for the first two miles and finished in 16:33. It also turns out that runner dude was none other Pete Sherry, winner of last year's Marine Corps Marathon. His final time was 15:49. Second place went to Rick Streeter (racer dude) of Herndon at 16:17. A sixteen year-old kid came in fourth at 17:16. Holy smokes!

For a short race, there's a lot of food for dinner (race time was 6:00 p.m.) Pizza, beer, hamburgers, PowerAde, soda, bananas, and hot dogs. Flat, fast, pizza ... it gets my vote.