Run For the Parks Recap

10k Race Results and new PRs
D: 45:42
C: 46:28

On Sunday we had a much needed successful race in DC. PR (Potomac River Runners), which is an amazingly active running store/running club, put on a race, Run For The Parks 10k, through a scenic section of DC's monuments. It was flat, felt fast, and well organized. With the much needed drop in temperature, I was able to push my pace much more than I have in a while.

The morning started off with an Uber (phone-app car service) ride to the start (a great way to not have to carry a wallet to a race). The driver had just taken a woman to the start, who was in a bit of a panic. She needed to be there in "nine minutes". We thought, maybe she was late for volunteering at a water stop, was an elite, or something else. Then I realized, It was the first day of day lights savings, and the Uber driver hadn't set his clock yet! - she probably hopped in the cab, saw his car's clock and panicked.

Instead, we arrived at the race with an uncharacteristically calm C, with plenty of time in our wonderfully warm new sweatshirts and paced around trying to ignore the very cold wind.

C had laid out her race plan for us the day before. 7:24 per mile would break our PR by about 2 minutes, so we were doing 7:24s. Usually we spend a bit more time thinking about pacing options, but, I didn't question it and instead set off at a slightly faster pace (C had taken off at this point, as she tends to do in races).

Right in the first mile, I settled into a comfortable pace that happened to be about 7:08s - 7:20s, with a small group of guys who all had the same pacing in mind. One was a seasoned marathon runner, so I attached myself to him until the half way turn around, when he started to kick in and take off.

In the end, I had a wonderful PR, held a respectable 7:22 pace (for an arbitrarily, morning of the race chosen goal pace of 7:24, I was surprisingly close) and felt wonderful doing it. I found a wonderful focus on this run, to the point, I couldn't tell you a thing about the scenery, but can recount the outfits of almost every person who passed me, and that I passed back....  Like the guy in orange who kept slowing down on the corners....

Me (bright yellow on the right) cheering C (in blue on the left)

C hit a PR too, less than a minute behind me.

Best of all - the race put up the photos on Flickr instead of those ridiculously over-priced sales sites (Great find C!) - so we were actually able to include race photos this time around!