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Race Result

Racer: Holly Gannoe
Race: Ukrop's Monument Run
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2005
Location: Richmond, VA
Race Type: Run - 10 km
Age Group: Female 30 - 34
Time: 1:09:47
Overall Place: 8025 / 12944
Age Group Place: 548 / 1034
Comment: This is a fun race! Well run and a beautiful course



Race Report:



Short and Sweet:

1:09:47 - Not a PR overall but a BIG improvement over the last year.

I was really happy to have been able to pull off close to a 10:30 mile after 6 miles of running so I am really thrilled. I am getting solidly back under an 11:30 pace after running an 8K at 01:01:12 in October 2004 and it is only April!

The Richmond Monument 10K travels down Monument Drive. It is flat, fast and full of over 20 bands! They also have a costume contest so there were plenty of fun costumed runners to look at. There were just shy of 13,000 racers/walkers who were released every 2 minutes based on finishing times. The crowds and music were great and the weather was perfect! I would recommend this race to anybody!

-------

The rest of the story - LONG (with a little medical sideline):

I have been looking forward to this race for a month now since I had to DNS (Did Not Start) the St. Patty's Day 10K in March due to some unexpected surgery.

My race season may be cut short this year due to a recent Melanoma diagnosis so I am anxious to enjoy as many races as I can this spring before I start treatment. The irony of my diagnosis is that I am feeling better than I have in years right now and I am determined to stay as healthy and fit as I can, no matter what the next months bring.

My boyfriend Jim and I drove to Richmond by way of Baltimore ...

----- Medical Sideline ----
after meeting with a surgical Oncologist for the first of at least 2 opinions. I got the GOOD news that I am "not sick enough" for allot of the clinical trials available to Melanoma! The downside to the good news? I am still in the early part of Stage III so the Dr's recommend that I do as much as I can now in terms of more surgery and treatment to try to stall the Melanoma. Because there have been no significant treatments that have shown to "eliminate" Melanoma, I was told to "buy time" however I can because I am so young.

I have at least one more "opinion" scheduled before I make some decisions on what to do next.
----- End Medical Sideline----

We checked into the Holiday Inn just as the rain began in earnest and Jim took a nap while I ran for 3 miles on the treadmill in the hotel workout room. For the record, I don't think the planner who put the gym right next to the pool has ever run a day in his/her life! It was like running in a darn sauna! UGH!

I went for a quick 30 minute swim and then cleaned up. Next stop was the EXPO to pick up my race packet. The expo was small but I bought a great long sleeve, white Asics "waffle weave" running top that looks like it will offer good coverage from the sun and lots of breathing/ wicking for training in this summer.

Dinner was at O'Charlies. I had a salad, roll with butter, grilled shrimp and some Cajun rice. I had ordered broccoli but it tasted funky so I left it on the plate.

Saturday morning, woke at 6:30AM to bright blue skies and perfect temps. 48F with temps expected to be 52-54F by race time and a high of 65 by noon. PERFECT RACE WEATHER! I had a Cinnamon Raisin Power Bar, drank of bottle of water and headed to the race start about 10 minutes drive away.

We found parking pretty close to the race start and just missed the start of the One Mile Fun run. I love to watch the kids run and was sorry to miss it.

Coach Debi had me doing a 10 minute warm-up pre race. I left Jim to watch all the "elites" waiting for the start, ran my warm-up, came back for a quick kiss and headed to my starting coral, "I".

With over 12,000 expected runners they were letting us go in 2 minute intervals based on predicted finishing time. I was in the "I" group and we started at 8:48, 28 minutes after the ELITE folks started the race.

My goal for this race was to PR this 10K with a solid 1:06:00 or better. Here is a run-down of what my race was like - by time and by song!

Mile 1: 11:17:41 – felt fine, warming up
SONG I HEARD: The Cure "Friday, I'm in Love"

Mile 2: 10:45:22 – ready for water stop, took a Gu and walked for 1 minute
SONG I HEARD: The tail end of "Under the Board Walk"

Mile 3: 11:38:45 – felt good, took water & 30 sec walk
SONG I HEARD: UGH! Yet another band just finished a song, I couldn't even name that song, that is how little of it I heard!

Mile 4: 10:59:35 – last water stop, took water and PowerAde, walked only long enough to drink; planned 1:30 walk break at 10 minutes so I could run the last mile as fast as possible.
SONG I HEARD: I don't recall, I was distracted by seeing "The Cat in the Hat" x3 run by .....

Mile 5: 12:10 (includes that 1:30 walk break)
(NET TIME: 56:50 – If I hustle I can still PR with a 1:06)

SONG I HEARD: The one in my head singing "You can do anything for less than 10 minutes" and "Pass that girl, now pass that guy..."

Mile 6: 10:35:70 – ARG! I forgot that I still have 2/10 of a mile and the watch is at 1:07:26 – damn it!

SONG I HEARD: "Don't Worry, Be Happy", I KID YOU NOT!

To Finish: 2:25:18 for 2/10th ... I was thirsty and toasty warm but I relaxed and enjoyed the finish since I wasn’t going to PR today.

My overall thoughts: I was really happy to have been able to pull off close to a 10:30 mile after 6 miles of running so I am really thrilled. I have no idea what races I will be able to do past the Sprint Kinetic Tri in two weeks because I have to make some treatment decisions so I am trying to make every race special. This one defiantly was! How can you not love a flat 10K on a beautiful spring day?

Thanks for making it this far! This race report took longer the write than it took to run ....

Holly G.