On the race itself:

Very fun race! The course was beautiful, right on the Potomac and the Tidal Basin, although the weather was crappy. DC runners really know how to get into the spirit of the season, too. We all had jingle bells on our shoes (which I half expected to drive me mad during the race but didn't actually bother me) and there were some fantastic costumes. My favorite was perhaps the runner dressed as Santa, wearing a cardboard sleigh and tethered to four runners dressed as reindeer. Quality.

Another thing that was interesting to me and kind of fun was that another runner paced off me for nearly the entire race. I realize that runners don't always love it when this happens to them but for me it was kind of fun. She must have started a bit ahead of me but I noticed her around the 1.8 mile mark when the leaders were passing us on their way back in, haha. I didn't notice her again until near the turnaround when I realized she was still beside me, and then the whole way back I was vaguely aware that she was there. We didn't speak at all until around the 5.7 mile mark where I commented that we only had about a half mile left. She then thanked me for letting her pace off me and said she wasn't really a runner so she probably would have started walking a long time ago had she not been pacing off of me. I kind of laughed and said that I'm not much of a runner either but I'm working on it. Of course talking wasn't exactly a breeze at this point in the race so that, in broken sentences, was the whole of the conversation. In addition to being a bit flattering that anyone would consider me a decent runner (since I certainly don't consider myself to be one...) I think it helped motivate me a bit at the end of the race to keep up the pace even though I was tiring.


On pacing:

Since I have never run a 10k race before and this was the longest run to date in my current training plan, I wasn't sure how to pace it. After a bit of thought I decided to stay in zone 2 for the first half of the race so as not to blow up early. As I ran, I took note of my mile splits for miles 1-3 and tried to reverse/negative split them on the way back. Basically, I knew my mile splits would get slower through the first half as I was trying to stay in zone 2, so then I just tried to make mile 4 faster than 3, mile 5 faster than 2, mile 6 faster than 1, and then give it whatever I had left to get to the finish.
I highly doubt that this is a sound pacing strategy. That said, I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I felt as though focusing on my heart rate on the way out gave me a clear way to pace myself since this was my longest run in probably a year and a half. On the way back, I changed my screen to display lap pace and completely ignored my heart rate, which allowed me to push toward my goal while listening to my body rather than relying on a number to tell me how I was feeling.

By the last mile or so of the race I was hurting and on more than one occasion urged myself on by reminding myself that they call it a race for a reason. This helped me pick up the pace a little more for a strong finish and I really felt as though I left it all on the course.

Nothing. I got everything I wanted to get out of this race and on top of that, my time was faster than I expected.

Walked/staggered out of the finishing chute and grabbed a bottle of water. Walked around to loosen up my legs, including a rather long walk back to the car.


Nothing. I'm happy to report that I think I performed as well today as I possibly could have given my current level of fitness and experience.


This race was well-run and I can understand why it's such a popular annual event. The course is truly fast and flat, albeit a bit crowded, and the runners have a lot of holiday cheer in the form of bells and costumes. I would happily run it again next year.