A 10K, a marathon and wilderness in between

Let’s try and keep this weekend recap quick.

On Friday night myself and two friends drove down to Charlottesville, VA to run in a 10K race there (Bad to the Bone 10K aka Charlottesville Fall Classic). 

(I’m in the lower left in blue)

It’s a pretty hilly course.  But I made the best of it and the pouring cold 41* rain.

As you can see from the below, the hills took their toll:

Mile 1: 6:02
Mile 2: 6:10
Mile 3: 6:19
Mile 4: 6:34
Mile 5: 6:43
Mile 6: 6:08
Last .2: 5:00/mile (aka 1:01)

Finish time was officially 39:00.03 – but I saw 38:59 when I crossed the mat.  It was hand-timed so not chip timed.

I managed to take 2nd in the M25-29 AG, and top 20 overall (out of 240 runners).  Technically speaking this is a 16 minute PR.  As the only other standalone 10K I’ve run was two summers ago and I was about 54 minutes.  It was also my first running race.   I think I’m going to do the Jingle Bell 10K in December and see how I do on a flatter course.

For my win I got $30 off any purchase of $100 at the running store in Charlottesville (ya know…2.5 hours away).  I was kinda bummed about that.  As my friend noted (who rocked it in 3rd place) – I would honestly have just preferred a cheap printed out finishers/placement certificate.  So if anyone lives in/near Charlottesville and wants the certificate – it’s yours – just e-mail me (seriously).

Anyway…on the way back we passed a sign, quite simply:

After getting home I threw together a plate of bruschetta for a pre-Marine Corps Marathon pasta party with the running group.  As I was topping them with a touch of home made reduced balsamic vinegar I noticed that the first few ones the balsamic was coming out way faster than normal (it’s usually rather thick).  So I checked the sauce and found it wasn’t exactly balsamic – but rather a chocolate wine sauce.  See, I make lots of little sauces and put them in small plastic squeeze bottles.  And umm…they look identical.  Interesting though – the chocolate wine sauce actually tasted pretty darn good on the bruschetta – so…I just left a few of them a bit more unique.

The next day I ran the Marine Corps Marathon.  Well..not exactly all 26.2 mile of it.  But rather about 10 miles of it.  I was pacing a friend who was doing his first.  He did amazingly well, especially after injuring his knee at mile 9 and being forced to a run/walk strategy.  Yet he still kept it sub-3:45.

Here’s a couple of random pics from the day I took.

The rest I took while running.

After navigating the mess that is Roslyn post-Marine Corps Marathon I went home to enjoy the rest of the day.  It was about 4PM and I was enjoying a nice warm shower when I had a massive “Oh $h!t” moment.  I completely and totally forgot I had to get in a 90 minute bike ride.  My heart kinda sank.  I just wanted to relax.  But out I went.  The ride actually turned out quite nice.  I ended up going on the Mt. Vernon trail – which I normally avoid like the plague.  But given it was late Sunday afternoon in the fall, I took my chances.  It was quite nice at sunset.

I had planned three random thoughts – but this posted ended up longer than I planned.  But then I re-decided to add them anyway.

1. I was grocery shopping last night and there were numerous samples out.  This very non-athletic dude that was sorta on the same grocery track/flight plan kept on grabbing like 4-5 of each of the samples.  I wanted to be like “Really?…Really?” – just like in the SNL clip from a few weeks ago (Skip to 4:40 – it’s well worth it).  Oh, and he did it for at least 5 sample trays.

2. While watching TV later in the night I saw an add for “Monopoly: Electronic Banking Edition”.  Which prompted another “Really?” moment.  As in “Really, kids can’t add paper money anymore?”.  And didn’t we just learn the whole ‘Don’t trust the banks’ lesson last month?  Just sayin’… (Side Note: I worked for a bank for a few years earlier this decade…after I left it subsequently became the biggest bank failure in US history…connection? My bad).
3. I didn’t feel like swimming today.  But I did anyway – about 4,000 yards.  It just seems like the rewards for swimming (i.e. a tri race) are sooo far away, like next spring.  It sucks.

Have a good week all!

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