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). 

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(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.

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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.

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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).

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

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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.

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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.

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The rest I took while running.

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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.

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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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14 Comments

  1. Congrats on the PR! Well done, and quite an improvement over the last two years. I’m planning on doing the Jingle Bell 10K as well, so maybe we’ll run into each other (okay.. well, maybe you’ll run into me just hitting the 2 mile point when you’re coming back past mile 4!).

    I’m glad I’m not the only one who looked at the electronic Monopoly and said “really??… really?” I think Monopoly taught me how to count money at an early age!

  2. Ugh I so feel you on the swimming thing. Once it gets colder, it’s also hard to delude yourself that swimming is refreshing. On a cold, wet day, the last thing I want to do is get in a cold, wet pool!

  3. I don’t really watch SNL, but I actually did see that episode.

    And as for the Monopoly… I remember seeing a news story about 4 months ago discussing how that game will encourage children to go into credit card debt haha.

    And swimming… ew. No. You have far great willpower than I.

  4. Chocolate wine sauce on bruschetta? You are such an interesting food guy.

  5. great post the tri season is far that I feel the same way. Congrats on 10k at jingle all the way you should put 37 easily I am doing it too well hopefully. enjoy the rest of the week

  6. I said the exact same thing when I saw that Monopoly commercial. Apparently they want the kids in this country to keep getting dumber.

    Congrats on the huge 10K PR, that is awesome!

  7. Nice job at the race!!

    And now I’m hungry… thanks…

  8. wow…you were flying…..great p.r.

    mt. vernon trail looks spectacular….

    must be cool to have marines handing out water and keeping the course moving…

  9. I can’t believe that you ran that 10K in a singlet in the rain and with a 41* temp! OMG, Seriously??? We in Houston would be in tights and long sleeves and gloves! Seriously!!!

    Would you come be my pacer for the San Antonio Rock n’ Roll Marathon on November 16th??? Really???…Really???

    That chocolate wine sauce sounds yummy!

  10. The GW trail is gorgeous and close. Why would you avoid it?

  11. um….are you in the off season? do you have an off season? i was having the same thoughts today. i kind of wanted to swim but i was like…um…should i rest at least two days after my last race? my first tri race is probably in April 2009 :)

    your weekend sounded super fun. congrats on the podium finish (i’m calling it a podium even if there was no podium). that would be hilarious if you brought your own podium to a race :)

  12. C’ville, musta been hilly! Nice race! Your pictures of the MCM and bike ride were cool. I also ran 10 miles with a friend Sunday morning, a 1st timer, who rocked in 3:51. She wore me out though she ran 2 1/2 times as far!

  13. Way to get in that swim and bike ride! REALLY!

  14. I’m with Audrey…shouldn’t you have an off season…where like, you can actually go a week without HAVING to do anything? i hope you get that soon, you’ve been going hard for a looooong time. It’s nice to take a break.

    NICE JOB ON THE 10K! That’s a smokin’ time, woo! It looks so cold and nasty…ugh, I would’ve probably stayed in bed. ;)

    I can’t stand it when people take 5 samples. It’s so dumb.

    And Monopoly was totally my most favorite game as a kid! I LOVED Monopoly! Why do we need electronic monopoly???