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Race Result
| Racer: |
Rob Weitzel |
| Race: |
Belle Haven 1/2 Marathon |
| Date: |
Saturday, December 4, 2004 |
| Location: |
Alexandria, VA |
| Race Type: |
Run - Half Marathon |
| Age Group: |
Male 35 - 39 |
| Time: |
1:28:28 |
| Overall Place: |
17 |
| Age Group Place: |
4 |
| Comment: |
Beautiful Scenic run along the Potomac river on the Mt Vernon Trail |
Race Report:
The Belle Haven 1/2 is a course that I ran under different branding back in May. It is the same exact course with pretty much the same exact people running the show. Very low key this time, $5 entry fee, 3 aide stations, road sentries, medals, and some post race refreshments, and no bibs.
This course begins at the Belle Haven Marina and Park off the GW Parkway south of the Wilson Bridge directly on the Potomac River in Alexandria. The course is a simple 10K out and back on the Mt Vernon Trail. The course consists of several twists and turns, and is relatively rolling vs being a flat course.
I ran this course in 1:33 back in May, and I honestly thought I was at a higher fitness level in May than I am now. I'm pretty wiped out from this season having now done multiple 10K's & 5K's, 3 half-marathons, a few olympic distance tris, an Ironman and then a marathon. I took a vacation after Marine Corps, and came back feeling totally out of shape.
I started off and immediately did not feel like I had the engine to compete. I stayed in the top 5 for the first 2 miles and then immediately got dropped. I felt very sluggish, and I could not get my turnover high enough so I thought. I throttled back my engine and tried to maintain a steady even cadence at a much slower pace because my HR seemed to be a little high. WHen I got to the turnaound at the first 10K I realized that my split was roughly 2+ minutes better than it was in May, and I was pleasantly surprised. On the return I throttled it down just a notch more to try to conserve, the guys that had passed me were to far off to catch, so I had to run my own race at this point and for the most part run alone, and I just took in the beautiful scenery along the river. I calculated that I would likely even split it for both out and back and I was right on the money. I finished in 1:28:28 17th overall not sure how many, but a great little club run. I think the winning time was 1:20:XX. I took 4th in the 35-39 and even got a nice little medal for a club run, not to shabby for $5. There are several races in this snowball series and there will be overall series award winners.
After the race I noticed that my calf was sore and there was a nice big red swollen throbbing mark on it. I knew exactly what it was but ignored it for most of the day until I finally decided to pay a visit to the E.R. Lo and behold they found (2) blood clots in my left calf, the same calf they found blood clots in 2 years prior. I'm now on blood thinners for the rest of my life, and hopefully this will not set me back to far.
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