Notes
For the first time ever, I ran a race without a watch. Actually, I had the watch and turned it on, but just left it in my pocket. Guess what? I got a PB (46:04), and it was completely unexpected! I only bettered my previous one by a few seconds, but still, it is a personal best ... and I haven't done a lick of speed work since the marathon. That means I've set PB times in the 5k, 8k/5 mile, 10k, half and full this year.
The race had over 2000 runners in it, and was an out and back along the Potomac River. It was great weather for it, with temperatures just a little over freezing at the start. The course is also pancake flat! I just tried to run at what I assumed to be 10k pace, and held on for as long as I could ... which was for about 9.8k! With a couple of hundred meters left, I could see the clock just tick to 46:00, and I thought "I'm finally going to break 46 minutes!" (since it took me about 30 seconds to cross the start and it was chip timed)... and then, I felt like I was about to puke! I had to stop right there, and I seriously thought I was going to leave behind a piece of myself in Washington. I didn't, but it did delay me from finishing by about 10 to 15 seconds. I often feel sick near the end of shorter races, for some reason.
Faith Ann ran it too. Interestingly, she was a bit ahead of a blogger named "Anne P.", who apparently has a fitness/food blog. I had never heard of her. However, the interesting thing is that the "P" in her name stands for Petraeus. Yes, she is the daughter of General Petraeus. I bet she and her father have had some fun times lately!
Here's a URL for the race - http://pacersevents.com/race/veterans-day-10k/
The top three runners were all under 30 minutes for the 10k.