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Race Result

Racer: Alex Rochette
Race: Turkey Trot for Hunger
Date: Thursday, November 25, 2004
Location: Washington, DC, DC
Race Type: Run - 5 km
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 0:18:32
Overall Place: 15 / 1000
Comment: Post Ironman Season...



Race Report:



I meant to run one of those customary Turkey Trots for the past 5 years and this is with great pride that for the first time I wore my Trot for Hunger race shirt at the Thanksgiving dinner table on Thursday afternoon! :)

I have hardly done any speed work in the past, duh… 6 months as I was focusing on long course triathlon training (sorry, I still owe the race reports for Ironman Hawaii and Florida). As a consequence, I didn’t know what to expect: on the one hand my aerobic fitness level is higher than it has ever been, on the other hand my legs certainly lack turnover. Let’s see.

Race day. The course is in Haines Point, start and finish near the FDR Memorial: about 1.55 miles out, then back. This is a low key 5k: no mile markers, the turn around is marked by 5-gallon water cooler bottles, etc. but very friendly at the same time.

8:10am. I pick-up my number and go for a couple miles warm up, including a few strides to test a pace.

8:27am. Everybody gathers on the start/finish line. It starts to rain – hard. The organizers decide to start the race two minutes early – good!

8:28am. Here we go. I don’t remember what it’s like to run a 5k… so I just go out fast (relatively speaking, of course) and just hope that I can hold this pace for the next 3 miles or so. It’s raining cats and dogs and very windy too – but it’s kind of a tail wind for now.

8:37am. Turnaround. I have a quick look to my watch: 9 minutes. I’ll take that. Now, the headwind. The strategy: hold on until the last 800/600 meters and then kick.

8:44am. I see the finish line. It’s time to kick! Where is the kick? I can’t kick!?! Gee. :( I still manage to pick up a couple people, but, dang, do I need to do some speed work. :)

8:46am. Finish line. Time: 18:32 (5:58 min/mile pace). Not sure about the ranking (the results are not up), I am guessing 10-15 or so.

I clearly need to work on turnover and speed. It’d be nice to run a 10-miler at this pace sometime in the spring but it’ll take some hard work. (Forget about running a marathon at this pace… very impressive, Aaron “Badass” Schwartzbard!)

Drink. Eat some. Jog a couple recovery miles. Chat with a few people, including Pam from TriCats before to head back home and prepare the dish I was assigned to. Food...

That’s all, folks.