My first race!!

My fundraising webpage: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/pfchangs09/ayates

I competed in my first race today! It was only a 10k, but I was still proud of myself. I knew I could do it, because Andrea, Kate, and I easily banged out a 6 mile run during training yesterday, so I was prepared. The race was called the Veteran's Day 10k, and I had heard about it from Petra. It started up near the DC side of the Arlington Memorial Bridge and went down to Haine's Point (home of our Hurricane Hannah run...see the "liquid sunshine" post from September for more details on that) and back. At 7:30 this morning Dave dropped me off at the Lincoln Memorial so I could walk over to the starting grounds.

As a newbie, I was completely clueless about how these races work, so I didn't realize that there would be a baggage check. Therefore all I brought with me was my debit card, my metro card, and a few quarters for calling Dave, all of which I had crammed into the pockets of my tiny running shorts. I would have brought my cell phone and maybe a pair of pants for afterward had I known I could have left them behind.

The starting grounds were dotted with food tents, a small bandstand blasting music, and of course an unsightly cluster of port-o-potties. As I grabbed a cup of water from the refreshment table, I heard an announcement that "Sarge" would be leading all interested people in a warm-up by the bandstand. I was curious as to who Sarge was, but also a little intimidated by the sudden vision of an army vet screaming orders into my face as I tried to keep up with jumping jacks. Fortunately, Sarge was not nearly that scary, and actually turned out to be quite funny. He also taught us a ton of new stretches that worked our hip flexers, and other muscles that I don't often think about before a run. He did of course make us drop and give him 10 at the end of the warm-up, but I did my best not to look too pathetic.

Following the stretches, everyone was corralled over to the starting line, where a marine sang the National Anthem and DC's Mayor Fenty wished us well before joining the runners himself. Before I knew it, we were off! There were about 2,000 of us, which is approximately 18,000 less than what I will see during my half marathon, but it was still good practice to try manuveuring around others. I needed to make sure that I passed people with enough space on either side of me, and that I looked behind me before moving to the left or right to avoid a collision from behind, much like switching lanes on a highway. By the time I got comfortable with my pace, people had spread out far enough that I had plenty of space to myself.

Sometime shortly before I hit the 2 mile marker, I saw a police motorcylce coming from the opposite direction, heading towards the start/finish line. I thought, "it couldn't be...", but it was - the first runners were already within 2 miles of the finish line, and were going to cross it in a few minutes. It was amazing to see people running with such speed, and all I could do was clap while running as the first 20 of them whizzed by me. Incredible!

At the two miles and four mile markers there were water stops, and I got to practice grabbing a cup from an extended hand and drinking from it, while trying not to lose my momentum. The first time I sloshed water all over my face, but I was a little more prepared two miles later. Both times I was careful to throw my cups into the garbage cans, unlike so many runners who just crushed their cups and threw them on the ground. I know that this is common practice in races, but it really didn't take much effort for me to toss my cup in the provided recepticle. All the same, I thanked the handsome young soldier who was running around collecting the fallen paper goods, and he cheered me on in return.

My legs naturally started to get a little tired towards the end of the race, but they didn't really hurt, and I didn't get winded at all. This lead me to believe that I can probably push myself a little harder during other races to improve my speed. I decided whil I was running that I'm going to sign up for a 5k in the near future to do some of this speedwork.

Even though I wasn't that exhausted, I was super excited to see the finish line up ahead of me. There was a man near the line with a computer that read our D-tags, which were the time chips on our shoes. He called us out by name as we crossed the line. It was a little odd to hear "And here comes Autumn Yates. Good job Autumn!" from a total stranger as I was finishing, but it was kind of exhilarating too. I grabbed a water bottle and looked up at the clock to see that a little more than an hour and ten minutes had passed since the start of the race, and I found out at the results board later on that my exact finishing time was 70 minutes, 23 seconds, with an 11:05 minute mile. I also came in 623rd place for the women. I was pleased for my first race, but I definitely think I can do better, especially after I learned that the 78-year-old oldest runner beat me by about 14 minutes!

Following the run I got some food, picked up the long-sleeved shirt that I checked, and sat down to watch the results announcements. The top ten finishers for both men and women each got monetary prizes and windbreakers, and the top three finishers in each 5-year age bracket (from under-19 all the way up to 74-79 years old) also got prizes. In between, they pulled names from a bucket for a variety of door prizes. I won a $25 gift certificate to a local running store! That was a nice surpise. Now I can get some winter gear as my longer runs start to get chillier!

On the way to the metro, I took the long way so I could pass both the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials. The race was, after all, in honor of Veteran's Day, and the monuments were bustling with somber on-lookers searching for the names of lost loved ones, as well as others who were there for the same reasons as I was. It's heart-breaking to see so many names on those walls, and I'm glad that I could participate in an event on a holiday that honors their memory.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable morning, and I am proud of myself for completing my very first race. I think I might start an album so I have a place to put my race bibs and pictures, because I have a feeling that this will be the first of many.

My fundraising webpage: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/pfchangs09/ayates