Yesterday, I ran in the Marine Corps 10k!
Not to be confused with the Marine Corps Marathon despite being run on the same day, on the same course. 
The 10k course starts around mile 20 of the marathon course and has the same finish line. I did a little mental math trying to figure out if the race leaders for the marathon could catch the slowest 10kers (and, of course, worried that would be me!), but with a minimum 15min/mile pace for the 10k you had to be off the course in 1.5 hours–a time that is still 30 minutes faster than the fastest marathon.
What I didn’t factor in was the wheelchair racers, who did end up catching us. And since we finish on a hill those poor guys were yelling at us to get out of the way so they could clear the area! But I digress.
The day before the race the temperature ended up plummeting and it actually snowed for a few hours. No accumulation, but for someone that was fantasizing about running on a crisp fall morning it made me rethink my whole running outfit.
So while I was at the marathon expo I checked out some clothing booths looking for something to cover up my ears. I noticed one that had some humorous sayings on shirts. Exhibit A:
I bought a headband type thingy that covers my ears. It says: Find your happy pace.
The morning of the race I got up early–did you know it’s fricking dark at 6:30 am?! And cold…it was like 35 degrees out. Yikes.
I was planning on eating a waffle for my pre-race fuel. I find that I do really well on simple carbs before a long run. Pancakes and syrup, waffles, white bread and jam. I’ve tried complex carbs thinking it would give me a boost later in the run, but I never get the same energy rush that simple carbs/sugar gives me. Unfortunately, I woke up not hungry at ALL. (This is a constant problem for me no matter how much I eat the night before.) Not wanting to waste an entire waffle I ended up toasting an english muffin and spreading a little strawberry jam on. I couldn’t finish the whole thing, but I did my best.
The nice thing about living in a major city is that there are a ton of races that start and end around public transport. The Marine Corps Marathon and 10k are no exception. Since I live close to a metro stop I just hopped on there and got off at the starting line next to the Smithsonian. The finish line? Just a casual walk away from my front door!
It was devilishly cold when I got outside though so I ran to the metro stop. A nice little warm up–literally! One I got to the starting line I found my corral. I self identified into the 1:10-1:20 pace group. I still had 15 minutes until the gun and it was still cold out–so I tried to warm up by talking to my fellow runners. Just chit chatting–everyone is so nice at races! I ended up talking to two ladies about races and running and that really passed the time. Soon enough, it was time to go!
The beginning of a race is always the hardest for me. I struggle a lot with trying to keep up with those around me. I’m so competitive I want to keep pace because I feel like I’m “losing” if other people are passing me. But I’ve gotten a lot better at self regulating my pace and I really held myself back for the first mile or two. One of my starting line friends hadn’t run in a month or so and asked if she could pace off me when I told her I’d be going slow. No problem! We talked a bit more, but around 2 miles in we just settled into the run with an occasional comment here and there.
Mile 2 was actually a bit scary as we went over a couple bridges and the previous precipitation and the cold of the day created some very icy conditions. I actually saw someone wipe out! I slowed down a bit, but mostly was careful to stay off the painted lines–they seemed the most treacherous.
By mile 3 we were in Crystal City and my running buddy decided to let me go ahead on my own. I gave her a thumbs up and told her to finish strong and I was off! I actually sped up a bit in mile 3. I was feeling good and knowing I was in the second half gave me a bit of energy. When I hit mile 4 though I cautioned myself not to waste it all, and I actually dialed it back a bit. The nice thing about having energy in the second half though is passing all the people who switched to walking. Ha ha! My competitive side needs a bone thrown to it after getting dinged up a bit at the beginning.
At mile 5 though I sped up a bit and made another friend who was maintaining that pace. We chatted a bit, but mostly huffed and puffed and kind of fed off each other a bit pace wise. Finally the Iwo Jima hill appeared in front of us and we raced to the finish line! Woo! I felt like I had maintained a good pace for myself, I still felt pretty good at the end. And I got a medal! My first one! Every other race I’ve run has given out “finishers coins” instead. So I kind of exclaimed (to another random person I chatted up) that I was excited about the medal. So the marine who put it around my neck (they placed each one–they didn’t just hand them out!) said: “You weren’t expecting a medal huh? Congratulations! Great run!”
After the race was over I grabbed a meal pack they were handing out, and a gatorade and started the walk home.
My medal among all the food that came in the meal pack!
I have a feeling these were more for the marathoners, but they were handing them out to the 10kers too!
Results were posted pretty quickly–I finished in 1:16:39! Perfectly inside my pace prediction. I wasn’t really treating this as a “race” in that I was trying to run as fast as I could–I really just signed up because it was a 10k race on a day that I had a 6 mile training run. Still, I now have a target to shoot for for my next race.
And to finish it up, this is what I ran in, along with gloves. I felt like this was the perfect outfit for my chilly run. I was cold when I was standing around but I felt great while I was running! (Didn’t run with the medal obviously! Haha!)
All in all a great race. I would definitely consider running it again! All I have left race-wise this year is the Hot Chocolate 5k in December. Then just training until the marathon! Eep!
