The race course was awesome. A short run from the start line was a left turn onto Rockville Pike then a straight to the finish. The spacing of the waves really helped with crowd control. It was mildly conjestion at the start but my the first 1/2m I ran in my ovwn space.

I remember a person from my BT MG group describing how a 10k should be run and while I don't remember it word for word I tried to take the advice and put it into my own plan.

The first few miles I ran hard especially on the downhill slopes and by mile 2 I had that slight I might have gone out too fast feeling (right on plan). I started to develop a side stitch around mile 2 and I remember reading those usually come on b/c you are pushing the pace too hard. So I tried to level off and not continue accelerating. I also switched up my breaths to inhale with the foot strike opposite my side stitch. That has worked for me on the past. The course flattened out a bit when I hit the 5k mark. I think miles 3-4 I could have pushed a little harder but I didn't want to blow up at the end. So the part of the advice - run hard enough to wish it was a 5k - I didn't quite hit.

After one more mile and a slight incline, I started to focus on only 2 more miles even though my brain was starting to suggest slowing down and quitting. I told myself I've run this hard for 4 miles and was well within my goal - don't blow it now. On the inclines, I paced myself to stay right around the 8/8:08min mark. I didn't want to lose time but I didn't want to gas myself either.

For the next mile, I picked up the effort. My HR was on the rise and my breathing was right behind. I was not labored yet but it was becoming an effort to keep as much oxygen flowing as I wanted to sustain my pace.

At mile 5.5, there was a longest, biggest incline of the race but I stayed strong and knew once I got to the top it was all downhill to the finsh.

Sure enough, at the top I could see the finish less than 1/2m away and it was a big race to the bottom. It's funny how downhill sections of a course can be great for recovering or catching one's breath but in this case I had hit my peak at the top of the hill and I didn't let up. I pushed as hard as I could down the hill and was really sucking wind. But I was done and my goals were accomplished. As far as the last 2 miles and the advice - mile 5, the pain sets in and you want it to be over (check). Mile 6, run with your heart and pour everything that's left into the tank (check). And those last .2 are on auto-pilot (triple check). So I feel pretty good about how I ran the race. It was nice to set a goal and meet it. I've had some rough patches with training lately so this was a nice mental boost.

Definitely a course I can run faster with a little more training and the inside knowledge of the race course.

Walked around trying to find the family and get Tony off on his bike ride. Lots of food tents for the runners. The kids and I walked


Nothing today. I will savor the good and not worry about nit-picking.


Great course. Lots of volunteers and stuff to do at the finish. The only knock is starting 10min late. And I found it a little funny that a big push was promoting a healthy lifestyle and the food tents consisted of:
pizza/pasta/subs, popeye's chicken, dunkin donuts and bagels, PF changs chinese food and some other stuff.