Login
Reston Area Triathletes RATS.net Logo

Race Result

Racer: Jen Tallman
Race: Ukrop's Monument Run
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009
Location: Richmond, VA
Race Type: Run - 10 km
Age Group: Female 30 - 34
Time: 1:02:43
Overall Place: 10899 / 26242
Age Group Place: 699 / 2064
Comment: Really fun race!!



Race Report:



This was my first 10k, so I was a little nervous... I mean usually I swim 1500m and bike 40k before running this distance, so I wasn't sure how I was going to do without that kind of warmup.... Ok, I'll stop being an endurance snob, and get on with the story.

I went down to Richmond on Friday evening, met up with my friend who was also racing. We hit the expo, which was quite impressive! I picked up the packet for Andrea Gabor, since I bought the spot from her. I was in no danger of winning, and it wasn't going to affect my USAT standings (which are not impressive) so it really didn't matter that my name was not on the race roster. They only had large t-shirts left, so I got myself a new dress! (I ended up sleeping in the shirt that night, and it comes almost down to my knees!)

We checked out the rest of the expo. Potomac River Running was there selling the 2009 version of my shoes (Mizuno Wave Creation 9s), for a discount, but I passed to keep looking at everything. There was a booth selling shoes for $50, so I checked it out. I found last years Wave Creation 9s in my size in a light blue instead of the orange and pink combo that my current ones are. I have nothing against orange and pink, but I do like to change the color of my shoes every time I get new ones. I picked up the shoes and another race belt, because I forgot to bring mine, and I hate putting safety pins through technical shirts.

After the expo, we headed into Carytown for dinner. We chose to eat at Can Can, a French place that Talise had heard was good. It was a little pricey, but we were celebrating...ummm... oh yeah, releasing old things that no longer serve us and remembering the truth of who we are! Any excuse to eat! I was impressed that they had an extensive list of Belgian beers! I went with Chimay Cinq Cents! YUM! I decided to go vegetarian for the evening, so that I could get the quinoa stuffed artichokes which were full of butter... They tasted great at first, but I soon realized that they'd have been better with olive oil instead. Since I'd already had dairy, I figured I'd eat the ginger pumpkin creme caramel.... totally worth it!!

I was heavily buzzed, so Talise drove back to the apartment, where we played Wii Fit until 2am. I learned that I am good at yoga, go figure.

The alarm went off at 6am and we got out race stuff together, attached disposable chips to our shoes and numbers to race belt or shirt, ate breakfast (YAY! I ate before a race!!), and got on bikes to go over to the start line that was about 3 miles from where Talise lives. We didn't want to deal with parking, so I'd brought my sister's old hybrid, that is actually quite new and barely ridden, and my old mountain bike that has been sufficiently modified for me to love it again.

We made it to the race site just in time for Talise's fast wave to go off. I found the bag check and got rid of my backpack. I wandered around a bit, because my wave was not to start until 9:30 or something, and the party was worthy of a much larger race. It had a mini marathon feel to it! I knew that I'd have to pass a ton of people, because I was in the wave for 75-90 minute finishes, and even for me, that is slow.

I found my wave, and ambled little by little to the start line. There were no race day jitters. It felt like a group workout for 30,000. When we finally hit the line, and I heard the beep go off. I was supposed to be doing a 45 minute hard run, so I warmed up for 5 minutes in L2, then took off into L4. My HR kept creeping up into L5, which was ok too! I was passing walkers, and kids, and people in crazy costumes (Pac Man and the ghosts, Indiana Jones and a boulder, a french maid with facial hair, and others). Along Monument Ave, there are monuments, go figure! There were also live bands playing about every 200 yards or so. It was a really nice addition! There were some places where live bands would have really made the Triple T and the Ironman experience a little happier! lol

I hit the turn around, and kept hitting it hard. I wanted to get as far in the 45 minutes of hard running as possible, before I had to shut it down and cool down. I had been playing leapfrog with a girl for quite some time, and I decided at the half way mark that I could not let a girl with a butt that big beat me, so I turned it up a notch driving the HR solidly up into L5. I know that it wasn't a nice thought, but it is what was motivating me at the moment. I have been on steroids, I know what it feels like to look like crap in spandex.

So, then the game became pick someone and pass, pick someone and pass, pick someone and pass. I grabbed water at almost every water stop (maintaining a good clip), because I don't think the Chimay did much for my hydration. At one stop, I was running along trying not to get too much water up my nose, because if I am going to drown in a race, I prefer it actually involve some sort of swim, and a girl next to me discarded her nearly full cup of Powerade onto my legs. GREAT! I figured at the next water stop, I'd grab a cup of water and rinse my legs, but I was chasing someone hard when that time came, so I just skipped the stop.

I was approaching mile 5 when my Garmin sounded that my 45 minutes were up. I thought about slowing down, but the ol' ego was talking..."people will think you are tired, that you can't do it, that you are weak. You have an Ironman finisher hat on, you gotta keep going hard! So, I kept going hard. I maintained a blistering ; ) 9:55 pace for all but the first 5 minutes of the race... lol! You'd have thought the ego had mistaken me for a Kenyan the way it was going on and on about how FAST we needed to run! lol

When I saw the finish, I picked it up to a 5:45 pace, and crossed the line. I found Talise by the bikes, we got my bag, go the bikes, and rode back through Carytown... the wrong way up a one way street with no helmets. It was exhilarating!!

I spent the rest of the day exploring Richmond's bicycle shops looking for a 47-50c frame to build a fixie, but had no luck. I checked out a metaphysical book store, and then we went to eat dinner at Ellwood's, an awesome health food store with tons of vegan food and vegan CAKES!! YUM!

My drive home was uneventful, but rainy, and when I checked my time on the site... I finished in 1:02:34. Not bad for a first 10k. ; ) Without that silly warmup, I'd have gone sub 1 hour.... next time!