Race report: 2009 Marine Corps Marathon 10K

I ran the Marine Corps Marathon 10K this morning – my first 10K since December of 2008, believe it or not (just haven’t been any convenient 10Ks that worked into my schedule). My final time was 42:03 (knocking about 1:45 off of my time of 43:49 from this race last year, and about a minute off of my previous 10K PR), and my understanding is that I was 3rd woman overall out of a few thousand. So I’m decently happy, even though my actual performance was mediocre.

Since I hadn’t run a 10K in so long, I was pretty sure that I’d be setting a new PR. However, I also knew that the course was not a fast one – it’s point to point net uphill, with rolling hills for the first two miles, and a section with a fair amount of turns. Thus, I had already accepted that I’d be running this for place, rather than time.

I came a bit close to not starting. On Saturday, I felt headachey and tired, with a scratchy throat, as did my boyfriend. I wasn’t sure whether it was the unseasonably warm weather, or a cold coming on. I decided to set my clock for Sunday anyway – if I woke and felt like crap, I’d just turn over and go back to bed and skip the race.

As it turned out, I felt better this morning, though not 100%, so I decided to race and see what happened (again, I was sure I could run pretty lousy and still PR, given how old my 10K PR was). I left my house about 6:20, and walked to the starting line, getting there about 7 am. Once there, I met dreamingreader from the LJ Runners group (hi! – I see you ran well!), and then switched into my flats and checked my bag. It was a bit chilly (for me at least), so I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a pair of gloves, handwarmers, and a pair of socks on my hands over the handwarmers and gloves.

I jogged about 2 miles, including a pick-up of 5 minutes, hit the portapotties, did some drills, and then went to the start to jog around while waiting for them to force us into our corrals. As per usual, the corrals were a bit chaotic – it was obvious that some of the people in the front didn’t belong there. I decided not to worry about it too much, as I didn’t want to go out fast anyways. Right before the start, I tossed the t-shirt and sweatshirt, but kept the handwarmers and hand-socks.

The gun went off and we started. I bolted forward, but got myself under control fairly quickly (within 30 seconds). However, I then saw an incredible sight – a group of people had lined up at the front, ahead of where their abilities would place them (not that unusual, sadly). What was unusual was that they were running while holding hands, meaning that one had to veer widely in order to pass the human wall they were maintaining.

I hissed at them as I went by: “for god’s sake, don’t line up at the front and then hold hands”. They laughed dismissively and then responded that they’d do whatever they wanted. One girl then started repeating my words in a sing-song voice. By that time, I was past them, but my anger fueled me, pushing to a pace quicker than what I wanted.

Shortly after, my friend Emily caught up to me (she and I are about the same level of ability, so we often end up running together for part of the time during races). By this time, I realized that I had gone out too hard on the hills and was not having a good day anyway, and started dialing back. She commiserated (mentioning that she had done the same), and we ran together for a while.

I was feeling crappy as we rolled into Crystal City (the flat section of the course, but with a fair number of turns), so I dialed back some more. At about mile 4, a course marshal told me I was seventh woman, and I was happy with that – I knew this wasn’t my day, so a top ten finish in this race was more than acceptable. As we came out of Crystal City and the course straightened out, I started to flow, and soon passed a woman. Now I was number six (insert BSG reference here).

I had spotted a woman in red who had passed me with authority in the third mile. She was still way too far ahead for me to realistically consider catching her, but I thought I could at least use her to “tow me.” I focused on her, but then focused elsewhere for a few minutes. When I looked back, she was gone. I thought she had simply pulled further ahead, but then suddenly I was passing her as she was walking on the side of the road. Now I was number five.

[she wasn’t the only one to walk – a lot of runners seemed to pull over and give up between miles 4 and 6 – evidence of how easy it was to go out too hard and spend everything on the early hills and turns.]

I was happy with holding position number five, but then, right before the sixth mile marker, I saw another woman in my sights. It was too early to kick, but I gritted my teeth and started pushing, and passed her. Now I was number four.

The last .21 of the MCM 10K course is the same as the Marathon, and it’s pretty memorable. It’s a tenth of a mile up a pretty steep hill, and then another flat tenth of a mile to the finish line. The past two times I’ve run this course, I’ve thrown myself at the hill way too hard, tied up at the top, and then staggered to the finish. One of my goals was not to repeat that mistake, but to run the hill patiently, and then kick at the top.

As we hit the hill, I saw the number three woman ahead. I was incredibly tempted to attack the hill, but forced myself to stick to my plan. Sure enough, she attacked the hill, and then ran out of gas as she neared the top. I took that as my cue to start kicking, and passed her, closed my eyes, and ran like hell to the finish line. (I have to note that my “Capital Hill repeats”, where I run hard up a steep hill for a quarter mile, and then run faster for another tenth of a mile once I hit the top, were very helpful here. Kicking just as I hit the top of a hill is now a well-ingrained habit for me).

As I hit the finish line, I heard them announcing me as third woman overall. I crossed the line, hit my watch, and dropped to a walk. With the efficiency characteristic of this race, a race official grabbed me within 10 seconds, and ushered me over to a VIP tent, where they asked me to complete some forms with my contact information. I walked in circles in the tent for a while (assuring them that it was normal for my breathing to be that ragged post-race), congratulated the top two women, e-mailed my boyfriend from one of the computers there, and then headed home for ice cream and chocolate covered oreos (I had bought them yesterday, but I have to avoid chocolate, dairy, and wheat within a few days of a race, lest I get significant GI problems – so this was some delayed gratification).

Splits were:

Mile 1: 6:47
Mile 2: 6:52
Mile 3: 6:51
Mile 4: 6:51
Mile 5: 6:40
Mile 6: 6:40
Last .21 --1:22 (pace of 6:31)

Final time was 42:03, for a pace of 6:47 -- note that I ran a 10 mile race 3 weeks ago at 6:51 pace, so 6:47 for a 10K is a bit below expectations. As you can tell, I’m not at all thrilled with the time (would have liked to be 41:30 at a minimum, and really should be breaking 41), but given that a) I’m feeling a bit off, b) the course is not a fast one, and c) the overall placing, I’m still pretty happy with this one.

As noted above, my understanding is that I was 3rd woman overall, and first in my age group (except I won’t get an age group since I placed overall). Weird thing is that the results posted this morning on Active showed me as fifth, with two mystery women also in the top 5. My hunch is that some women sold their bibs to men without going through the transfer process, screwing up the results. Either that, or there was some other timing error (the two mystery women also don’t show gun times, just chip times). The results are now inaccessible, so I’m guessing that’s getting reviewed.

But, I was either 3rd, 4th, or 5th out of a few thousand women. I’m happy, regardless. And the fact that my 10K PR is still pretty soft means that I get another chance to PR at the 10K again this fall (most likely at a 10K I like to run in December that is a flat and fast course).

Other notes: Weather was perfect – 50 degrees, no wind. I wore my racing flats (Brooks ST Racers), but I’m now thinking the Asics DS Trainers are a better 10K choice for me. The DS Trainers are heavier than the ST Racers, but I feel like I run much more efficiently and smoothly in them, and I don’t really note the difference in weight.

I took one Sudafed, and one puff of my inhaler, before this race. I’m thinking I may try the next race off the Sudafed entirely, since it seems like allergy season is coming to a close, and the congestion is no longer the issue it once was. The Sudafed does elevate my HR substantially (about 10 BPM for the same effort), and I’m thinking it may be a detriment at the faster shorter races (though not as detrimental as reduced lung capacity due to congestion).