Veteran's Day 10K

It's becoming the same story with races now: Too little sleep and too little running during the work week. The week leading up to this 10k was hectic. Crazy hectic. It was the end of the quarter, which meant comments for 110 students needed to be written, I played my saxophone in the jazz band during the Fall Concert on Wednesday, and then we had our Fall Sports Banquet on Thursday. I love it all while I'm doing it, but then I get home at 9:00 and there's no chance for a run.

A co-worker posted this race in our faculty room in October and after hearing that it was a fast course I decided to sign up. For the last month this race was my focus on all of my runs. I wanted to break 40:00. I had good speed leading up to it and had just raced a new 5k PR two weeks before. However, after the crazy work week, I had to reevaluate what my goal for the race would be. On race morning I decided that finishing would be enough. A PR would be great, but I couldn't expect it, nor did I want to put my body in the pain that would be required to get it.

I'm not a professional so I don't have the time to dedicate to running. Sometimes I have to be OK with 12 or 17 mile weeks. When those weeks happen to fall in the week leading up to a race then I have to try my hardest to talk myself into racing by convincing my mind that I'm in better shape than I am.

The basin at 7:00 on race morning

Race morning started off in the low 40's, but it was sunny and not windy. This was a relief, especially since we were racing on Hains Point. Tom and I volunteered at a 10K there the weekend before and the wind was horrible. I would have cried if I had to race with the wind, and the weather for this 10k was just about perfect.

We met up with a few co-workers of mine before the start. It was awesome to see and be with familiar faces at the start!

The Race:
I did an extra long run for warm up by accident and didn't get in the drills in that I normally do. I was OK with this, considering everything else had worked out better than could be asked that morning. The gun went off and we were out. I knew I was cruising and was not surprised to see 6:15 on my watch for the mile 1 marker. A little too fast, but nothing to freak out about.

I stayed right behind two girls starting at the second mile, which I went through at 6:28. When mile 3 came (6:26) I was bummed that it wasn't a 5k. 5Ks feel so nice now and I would have been very excited to be done racing. This was my third 10K ever and I still didn't know how to race it.

I passed the two girls in front of me at this point. My fourth mile was strong. I felt strong and it flew by in 6:23. I started to feel the race a little more during the 5th mile, but held on, finishing that mile in 6:29. Tom was at the 5th mile marker and that is when two girls came out of no where from behind me. Good strategy, chicas. They knew just how to throw me off my focus. They looked strong and I wasn't feeling strong. I kept counting down the tenths of a mile, which is not a great way to stay calm.

I got to mile 6 with 0.2 to go (6:31) and felt the 10k-urge to vomit. So did one of the girls in front of me who suddenly stopped and pulled off to the side. I shut my eyes knowing that if I saw anything come up I'd lose my cookies too. She saw me at that moment and decided that finishing was more important than vomiting and hopped back into the race.

Once again, like the last race, I saw the clock tick its way closer and closer to 40:00 and could not make my legs get to the finish any sooner.

Tom's phone deleted all of the photos he took of us while running. The only photo that somehow survived is me  after getting my award

Final Time:

40:04

New PR

9th Female

3rd in Age 

(not including the overall winners)

I'm a little frustrated, but I know that a 39 will come with better training, more speed work on the track, and a better work week. 

We hung out at the finish for some time and it was fun to be with friends. After the awards, Tom and I paid a visit to Thomas Jefferson.We had fun enjoying the peacefulness of DC at that hour in the morning. 

It looks like the next race is a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Hopefully I'll get in some quality runs between now and then. It's nice not having to worry about a training program yet. That will come at the end of December as Tom and I both begin to prepare for Boston. 

=PR= Race Series: Run with Dad (minus the dad) 5K Recap

I've known for a few weeks that I had a 5K PR waiting inside of my, but needed to get a race to find it. This weekend Tom and I each ran in the =PR= Run with Dad 5K at South Lakes high school. I woke up that day not as excited to run it as I was to run the 10K a few weeks ago. The 5K isn't my most favorite race. But fortunately, I didn't let that hinder me and was able to finish with a new PR for the day.

We arrived around 7 to get our bib and then went on our own ways to warm up. It's funny - people often ask if we run together. The answer is rarely. Tom's so much faster than I am, and I am so stuck in my ways. I warm up the same way each time and begin to freak out when it starts to go differently. I am so independent and need freedom to go on my own.

I felt great on the warm up: I got in 14 minutes of running before drills, and knew my body felt awake and ready. We met up again on the starting line, 5 minutes before the race, and found ourselves starting a little bit back. Everyone was ready to go and lined up before we had gotten there and it seemed impossible to get up front.

The start was a little chaotic. We ran 300m on the track at the high school before veering off and into the woods. It was slow, and there were a ton of people in front of us that didn't need to be right on the starting line. I jumped up with other PR running ladies, recognizing a few and knowing I wanted to be with them for the start.

I ran my first 10K last year at this school and was expecting to run a course very similar and was surprised to find us going onto the bike path in the woods. Rather than the open roads with little turning, we found hairpin turn after hairpin turn, as well as a constant variation in elevation. Instead of focusing on my body and on my pace I was constantly worrying about the people around me, making sure I didn't take a face plant as I turned a corner, and mentally battling how the course reminded me of some high school and college courses I had run.

There was a lot of passing during the first mile. Being a Father's day run, there were a lot of younger kids and teenagers that were running. These runners also went out with a very nice mile split, only to drop off in the second mile. I kept my sites on another PR team member right in front of me, not knowing who she was, but recognizing that she was a strong runner. My goal was to stay with her as long as possible. Little did I realize that she was definitely the first place woman of the race.

Mile 1: 5:56

Good. I met my goal mark for the first mile. Last year this split would have freaked me out completely. However, after hitting sub 5:50's on runs in the spring, I knew this was OK. My only problem came with keeping this momentum in mile 2, my weakest mile. This was the mile I struggled the most in trying to stay in the present, rather than having flash backs to races in college when we ran a similar course at St. Mike's. 

Mile 2: 6:22

As I passed the marker and saw 12:18, I knew I had slowed, but couldn't do the math in my head. At this point, I was strictly running on feeling. I had only looked down at my watch twice. I knew if I wanted to break 19:00 that it would be close. So I tried to push harder. 

5Ks, while much shorter than a marathon, take much more focus and a higher pain tolerance. They also require that the runner do some actual SPEED workouts before racing. I haven't done speed in weeks. 

Everything was going great until I came out of the woods for the last time. I had just over a quarter of a mile left to run and made the mistake of looking down at my watch as I went up a hill. In that instance I began to dry heave. Ugh, not this again. I held it in, and kept up the pace. But it happened again. I had no choice but to slow down for a few seconds to stop it. Slowing worked, but my momentum was gone. While I love that there was a camera crew at this race to take free race photos, I hated that they would have been able to catch my lowest moment on film. I was also not ready to loose my breakfast while on the track, now knowing that I was the second place female after a man yelled it in the woods.

As I turned the corner I heard my name being called by the MC, then heard Tom's voice as he cheered me on. He knew my goal was low 19's, and based on his voice, I knew that I had to work hard to get there. 

Final Time: 19:18

New PR

Second place female

I'll take that PR, but I'm not done. As soon as I finished I was ready to sign up for another, faster race! I need to break 19. I never thought I would have that as my goal, but I know it's in me. I just need to get on a track for a few weeks.

-----

I have been enjoying the opportunities that the PR Race team has given me this spring. I love being more involved in races and feeling like there is a purpose to my training. It's also been great to meet other runners on the team. A few of us went for a cool down run afterward and we discovered that two of us had lived in Vermont and had competed against the same runners in high school!

This race was also put on by PR Running. For the runners, there is a ton to offer: awesome tech t-shirts with registration, a lunchbox (for Father's day), a master of ceremony that was made for the job and makes it fun, food at the finish line, and terrific prizes that include gift certificates to be used at their store. I got $75 for second place, which means I can pick up some nice sneaks in a few weeks!

2014 Capitol Hill Classic 10K

Back in the middle of May, a bunch of teachers from my school, parents, and students partook in the Capitol Hill Classic which consisted of a 10k and a 3k race. I had a major goal for this race and was confident that I could do it: Break 40:00 in the 10k. Better yet - break 39:00. I knew I could do this, but had not had good training after Boston (hello 14 hour work days!). I was also very stupid in the middle of the race and never actually looked at my overall time on my watch to see how I was doing. Lesson learned.

Final Time: 40:05

3rd Female

The race morning was PERFECT.  It was in the 50's, sunny, and had no humidity. There was a breeze that felt great on the course, but was enough to force me to draft behind guys a few times. The 8:30 start let us sleep in and enjoy the morning a little before racing, and nutritionally I was set for the race because of the later start.

Tom and I were both running and we knew we had a good chance of placing based off of last year's results. The gun went off and 3 women immediately flew past me. One, a red-head, was a girl I remember seeing at the Cherry Blossom in April. I had some sort of feeling/memory of passing her during that race, so I was not worried about her speeding off at the start. My thinking: let her get tired, then I can reel her in.

The start took us by the Capitol and Supreme Court. I just love the races in DC because of the monuments we run by!

The first three miles flew by but my Garmin beeped about 0.1 to 0.2 miles before I actually got to the mile markers. I don't know why it wasn't lined up with the markers, but I should have really taken that into account for the rest of the race and checked my watch a few more times.

Miles 1-3

6:06, 6:09, 6:12

I felt confident and satisfied with those mileage times. I was also surprised to see 19:07 when I went through the 5K. My current, official PR in the 5K was a 19:41, which means I knocked off a significant chunk and need to get into an actual 5K in the coming weeks. 

By mile 3 we were in the middle of nowhere, or so it felt. The beautiful homes, green streets, and shade that we had in the first half of the race was replaced with concrete, sun, and the parking lot surrounding the old stadium in DC. It felt like a desert, because we were the only ones out there.

As I was thinking how horrible of a place it was, a girl in purple FLEW by me. Where did she come from?! Her speed told me that she knew what she was doing and I was not going to catch her. I fell from 4th to 5th.

The fourth mile marker came: 6:29. Uh oh!  

I knew I had slowed. But by that much?! Fortunately, I spotted the red-head in red. My mission became to catch her, and I was getting close. I got her before the 5th mile, and felt confident that my race to get her meant I picked up the pace.

Mile 5: 6:36

Oh no! This was not going the way I wanted it to, but I didn't dwell too hard on it. I actually felt fine and I was working at a hard effort. I had to keep reminding myself that it was only my 2nd 10k and I hadn't run one this fast before.

Now that I was in 4th I began getting closer to the 3rd place woman. At the same time, I kept playing cat and mouse with a man near me. It was good, as we kept pushing each other to get closer to this girl. 

At around 5.5 I had a decision to make. I had never taken on someone like this in a race. I could keep going this speed and pass this 3rd place woman, and then hold on for the rest of the race. Or, I could play it safe, draft off of her, and then hopefully take her at the end. She knew I was coming, and I couldn't tell if she'd let me pass, only to pass me again and squash my mental game. Also, passing her would mean that I'd have to be on my game for the rest of the race, pushing myself to ensure she couldn't come back. Did I really want to do that?

Yes. I did. I wanted a PR. I knew that to get the PR I needed to get around her. If it had been a man I would have had no problem in my mind making this decision. He wouldn't have stood out. But to take the 3rd place female spot, scared me. I knew it. So I took her. And I kept running. I didn't want to look back. I also felt like I was going to vomit - a reaction that I need to control if I want to get faster.

My spring motto that I have to remind myself in each race: Running fast isn't easy. You have to work for fast times.  

Mile 6: 6:22

Tom was around mile 6 cheering on runners, having already finished 10th overall. I knew I was close to the end, but hadn't look at my watch time and didn't realize HOW CLOSE I WAS to breaking 40. When I turned the very last corner and saw 39:57 on the official clock I screamed in my mind. OMG.... how could I be that oblivious to the time? How could I have been that close to a 39:xx and not realize it?!

I passed the line at 40:05. It was a minute and a half PR, but didn't feel great because I knew I can do better. 

 We stayed to watch the 3K, which had a ton of our students running in it. I didn't realize how big of an event this was. It raised over $80,000 for a school in DC! Talk about a successful fundraiser!

It was a good race (minus the desert) and was a fun morning to spend with co-workers and students. This race also showed me that I need to get signed up for a 5K soon so I can really see what I have in me for that distance!

2014 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Recap

*Warning* No coach would ever recommend a runner to PR in a race two weeks before running a marathon.

Don't be an idiot. Save your legs.

When I signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in February I did it because I enjoyed the race last year and because I figured that I would use it as a TEMPO. Not a race. I wanted to get a PR or run a 1:09 like last year, but I told myself that I would not take it seriously. 

However, when my winter training (or mind?) went to crap, I changed my spring priority race from Boston to the 10 miler. I know Boston will be off from the lack of training, and I wanted to have success somewhere.

It was a risk. I could get hurt. I could waste all my training by peaking at that race and suffer through Boston. And it turns out, that as I write this on the Wednesday before Boston, a full 10 days after the 10 miler, I still feel the effects of the race but am finally optimistic that my body will be ready for Monday.

While it took a week to get the feeling of tennis balls out of my super tight calves (thanks in part to the stupid decision to wear racing flats for the first time), I am super happy with my performance. And just like the Parks Half that I did last year, I was reminded that only my mind is holding me back. I have more to give, and I kicked up my running to a new level last weekend. 

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
Final time: 1:05:47

6:34 minute/mile pace

Tom and I were both signed up for this race. He was on a team for his work and I was racing for the PR Running Race team.  I had also just spent 5 days in Boston at a conference, eating out and walking a lot. Neither of us knew what to expect for performances.

Our phone told us it was 33 degrees when we left the house last Sunday, but 39 by the time we made it to the Washington Monument. Fortunately, it was a gorgeous sunny day.

I was feeling hopeful for a good race, considering the "cold" temps actually felt pretty warm. My body was cooperating and my legs felt good.

When the gun went off I knew I was going out too fast. My first mile read a 6:18. Way. Too. Fast. I had thoughts of my 5K from last summer, which started off almost at the same pace. Oops. 

I slowed a little for the next mile, but was faster than I planned to run. 6:38. Then a 6:29 for mile 3. After three in a row I knew that was my new pace. I decided to try to hold around 6:30 for the rest of the race. This was a pace that was totally quicker than I expected to be running right now, but it felt right.

I saw Tom once during the race as we headed out toward the Kennedy Center. He was pretty far in front of me and so focused that when I cheered him on I didn't hear his holler back to me for 5 seconds after mine.

Miles 4-7

6:28, 6:32, 6:35, 6:29

This section seemed like a blur to me. It went quick, but I knew it lead to the dreaded Hains Point at mile 6ish. Last year this area was brutally cold, but this year felt better with less wind. 

At this point in the race, you tend to stay near the same people. I had apparently been following a guy in a bright yellow shirt the whole time and didn't realize it until I started to catch him. At mile 7 I remembered that I needed to trick my brain into thinking I just started a 3.1 mile race. This made me relax immediately instead of freaking out (which I had been doing) and I began to pass the man. My inner coach instincts kicked in and as I passed him I shared my advice. "We only have a 5k left!"

Why am I being friendly in a race? I think it's because I remembered how much I suffered at that same spot last year. It was horrible and I felt like dying. He didn't look like he was dying, but he was slowing and he admitted to me that he went out too fast. After a few minutes, he caught back up to me and passed me. I wasn't able to catch up to him for the rest of the race, but I was happy to know that he was able to pull himself out of the slump and keep going.

Miles 8-10

6:38, 6:37, 6:42

The wind picked up as we turned back on Hains Point and I could see the top of the Monument. The end was so close! Yet, it was still TWO miles away!!! Those two miles feel like they take the longest, no matter how much I pick up the pace. And while I thought I was picking up the pace, I was only picking up the effort level, which wasn't enough to overcome my slower miles at the end. 

My weakness in races has always been my mind as I near the finish. The closer I get, the slower I want to go. Even though I may be able to see the finish, I want to stop. My mind freaks out, causing my body to tense, and I start to feel bad even though I may have been feeling great prior to it. The course signs that counted down the meters left only made it worse. I wanted to stop. I wanted to puke. But I forced myself to keep running though it to get to the finish. Why I can't run faster knowing the end is only 400 meters away, I have no freakin' clue!

For the first time in years, I almost threw up at the finish. I feel bad for the person who tried to tell me good job and patted me on my back as I was trying to keep my breakfast in. That was a poor move on their part but the pat may have actually saved me from tossing my cookies. Thankfully, I felt fine right after. 

My time was 4 minutes faster than last year. Tom was also at the finish, finishing 8 minutes faster than me, with a 58:11 and a two minute PR. His team ended up winning for their division, and my PR team came in 3rd for ours. 

Post race photo! And evidence that I need a phone upgrade due to the poor quality.

Once again, this was a great race and race atmosphere. The day was gorgeous, the people working the event were well organized, and we had a fun time with friends. It was a great tuneup race to get me in race mode for Monday, even though I totally should NOT have raced it so close to Boston.

Lesson learned. 

And PR Earned.

DC Eats: La Tasca

Holy Smokes - I just discovered a large number of unpublished posts that I wrote LAST SUMMER! Ugh! Why didn't I ever publish? Who knows? Why am I going to publish them now? Who knows?

Let's travel back a few months ago to a hot night in July. It was a friend's birthday. A friend that I've known since elementary school. In fact, we used to be neighbors and did a skit on Dolly and James Madison when I was in 6th grade. She lives just outside of DC so we get to see each other a few times a year. Anyway, her (now) fiance threw together a birthday evening for her at a tapas restaurant in Chinatown, called La Tasca.

I think I had heard mixed things about the place but was so excited to try it out. On that evening, we were able to get unlimited tapas for $35/person. Yes, pricey, but it gave us the ability to fill out bellies with delicious food.

If there's two things you need to know about this place it is that 1) they like their garlic and 2) they like their salt. BIG time.

The first thing I always order at a Spanish restaurant is their croquetas. That allows me to accurately judge each restaurant. La Tasca's were awesome - and a bit different: Chicken and pork croquetas served with a garlic aioli. Not traditional to Spain - but so good nonetheless.

Next: the albondigas. Say it with me - Al- BON-di-gas! These were the beef and pork meatballs. Another winner in my book. I followed these with their pan a la Catalana: an airy bread with a tomato, olive oil, and garlic bread. The menu forgets to mention that SALT is another ingredient in it, as that was the most powerful part of the bread. This was a dish I ordered for breakfast while in Spain, but enjoy it for dinner here. Someone ordered bacon wrapped dates which were good until you were just about finished with it, and then the date TOOK over your mouth and all you could taste was the sweetness of it.

Tom arrived late and was a little daring with his ordering. He got 'pulp a la gallega' which is actually octopus with paprika and potatoes. I ate more of it than he did. The 15 year old version of myself would have been appalled at what I did, but I liked it. My taste buds have become much more adventurous over the years.

Then came the tortilla. I've stopped ordering these at restaurants in the US because they normally aren't that good. However, since we had unlimited tapas, why not try it....

It was seriously the best tortilla I have ever had. I wanted to take a photo, but I wanted to eat it more, and ultimately my tongue won out.

We haven't been been back to La Tasca, but I there is nothing that would stop me from going back. I love living in a diverse city full of different cuisines and originally planned to do more DC Eats posts like these when I moved down, but honestly have enjoyed the food too much to document it.

Another DC Snow Day

We're on our FIFTH snow day of this winter! I swear - we have  had more of them down here in DC than we did in two years of school in Vermont! It's been a crazy (and cold) winter.

Tom woke up excited to get out into the snow. We bundled up and made our way to a local bakery to enjoy warm drinks and a cinnamon bun. Not a lot was open, so the bakery became like a little meeting spot for local folks. 

This afternoon we met up with a friend and ran down to the monuments. I knew that friends and monuments would be the only way to get me out the door today. Since the roads were cleaner than the sidewalks, we found ourselves running right in the street at times. Today is probably the only day you can run in the streets near Dupont and NOT get killed by doing so! Few people were out on the roads and the streets were still pretty messy.

It's been interesting to compare the differences in winter storm preparation between DC and VT. While downtown, we saw a parade of 5 dump truck-plows drive by to plow one street. If there's ever a snow warning the sidewalks are coated with salt beforehand. And I mean, absolutely coated to the point where they are now white sidewalks.

Only a few folks had ventured out to the monuments - which made it incredibly peaceful and allowed the guys to have snow ball fights when they pleased.

Wind-Skiing at the Washington Monument. When you don't have hills, you make due with what you've got!

The snow is wet and there's a lot of water on the streets. After getting our shoes wet enough times on the way down we gave up on trying to avoid puddles and began to jump through everything.

Our way back home Rock Creek was a bit more challenging. We had to make our own path at times but it was beautiful nonetheless.

This was EXACTLY the type of run I needed to break away from the mid-winter funk I've felt over the last few weeks. We had fun and got to explore like kids and forget about any training cycle! We're supposed to get a few more inches tonight so who knows what tomorrow's run may bring!

Amorphophallus titanum and the Botanical Gardens

How long did you spend trying to pronounce the name of the title? I could have shortened it - called it the titanum arum, but nah - had to be all Science teacher on you, didn't I?

Besides the Royal Baby's birth on Monday (which I was obsessed with) there was some other news in DC. A giant, 8 foot tall flower bloomed in the US Botanical Gardens.

So what's the big deal about this flower?

It releases a putrid scent (rotting meat) to attract pollinators (i.e. dung beetles). It also has a very unpredictable blooming cycle and could go years or decades before blooming again. It takes an incredibly long time for it to store enough energy to bloom.

It may not be as important as the new Royal baby, but it's pretty neat to see nonetheless. I had to see it for myself. And yes, I wanted to smell it. I arrived at the Gardens around 2:30 and there was a small line. Sadly, I heard from people that had seen it that the smell was already gone. The plant bloomed late Sunday night, right before the Gardens were to close, so the scent was strongest between Sunday evening and Monday night - when no one was there.

Although it wasn't emitting its odor anymore, I did notice a faint hint of something in the air when I walked into the room that housed the flower. Everyone was waiting for their turn to snap a shot of the towering plant.

After getting my photos and verifying that I indeed could not smell anything coming from the titan arum, I explored a little of the gardens while cumulonimbus clouds built in the distance. One can never get tired of looking at Nature's beauty.