Race Result

Racer:	Katie Davison
Race:	Army 10 Miler
Date:	Sunday, October 24, 2004
Location:	Washington DC, DC
Race Type:	Run - 10 mile
Age Group:	Female 25 - 29
Time:	1:29:44
Overall Place:	5581
Age Group Place:	330 / 1267
Comment:	did all of DC run this race?

Race Report:

Running is my least favorite thing to do in a triathlon. I am never sure why I sign up for running races…I ALWAYS back out of them…haha. But I do always have a good time and my motivation for running always increases when I stick with it and race.

***GOALS***

1:25:00, under 9 minute average miles

***RESULTS***

1:29:44
330/1267 – Female 25-29
1284 – Female place
5581 – Overall place

***PRERACE***

I woke up at 5am after not sleeping so great. I would not recommend living in Arlington if your into going to bed early. Its cool and fun and all but there is a lot of commotion in the late hours of the night. Well the night before the race, my night owl sister Sarah, whom was also running the race, decides to have friends over and cause rucus so that I could not sleep…EXCELLENT.

We left the apartment at 6am and headed over to the Ballston metro and were met by mobs of racers on the metro…what a scene!

Once we got to the vicinity I had to go to the bathroom like no other. So we found the portas and had to go through security to get to them. Security was everywhere. After going through there was no going back, no cells, no electronics, no spectators allowed! I felt bad for those spectators in the cold and rain with no bathrooms.

***RACE***

Sarah and I made our way through the crowds to where we thought might be the start. I was FREEZING and made my sister hug me to keep warm. She is a great sister  Our plan was to run together. Soon the masses of people started gathering and people just kept inching up. Then I think the race started? Canons kept going off every minute or so. I believe this was the start of each wave…although I was not sure what wave I was in. Finally we started to run with the mob of people. Sarah told me to just try and get through as many people as possible. So I started weaving through all the people and before I knew were at Mile 1. Mile 2 and 3 were very similar and at a similar pace. My first 3 miles were under 24 minutes…I was NOT pacing myself at all and realized I could be hurting in a couple miles! At this point things had thinned out a bit…although still surrounded by people. We both decided that we had better start pacing ourselves. At the end of Mile 4 Sarah and I started having differences in opinion on how we should be pacing ourselves. We don’t usually run together. When I run I make plans for myself (fast mile 6, 8, 10, easy smooth pace mile 5, 7, 9). She was not a fan of that idea and started to get mad at me. So she told me to just run right in front of her. Then she kind of moved to the side and I got the hint she no longer wanted to run with me. So I was on my own from that point. I sort of stuck to my plan then. During Mile 6-8 my legs really started to ache. I guess that’s what you get for only swimming and biking  Then after Mile 8 I knew I was going to finish and just gave it all that I could. The last part of the race down 395 took FOREVER….but finally I was done! After I ran through the finish I had the strangest experience…where you try and stop running but your legs don’t stop!

***POSTRACE***

I managed to find my sister afterwards wandering around aimlessly in the masses of people eating cookies. She was happy with her race and proud of me! It was fun for the two of us to do this race together…a definite bonding experience . However…I can not walk today.

***LESSONS LEARNED***

Do not start out so fast. Pace yourself. Don’t run with Sarah.

***NEXT YEAR***

I do not think I will do this race next year! I look forward to more running races now…but this one was a little too large!