On Saturday, Matt and I ran the Clarendon Day 10k, and I set myself a new 10k race PR (personal record)!! This was my third time doing the 10k (fourth time doing the race series – remember last year when my friend and I ran the 5k by accident?) and I always enjoy it. It’s convenient, not too big, and well organized.
It’s also a great race for PRs because the first mile and a half of the race is downhill! There’s some uphill at the end, but it’s still a pretty awesome way to bank some time.
The 10k race starts at 9 a.m. (the 5k is at 8 a.m. – I triple checked the time this year, ha!), which I love because we were able to roll out of bed at a reasonable hour to head over. We had no problem finding free street parking, getting our bibs, hitting the portapotties, and doing a quick warm up jog/stretch before lining up in the starting area.
We ran into my college sorority sister and blog reader Ashley while waiting to start, and had fun chatting with her. She was doing the double (5k AND 10k), so she had just run the 5k – way to crush it, girl!
And then we were off!
Matt’s faster than me from all his soccer playing so we decided to run our own races and just see how we could do. He took off a little ahead and I settled in, taking advantage of the downhill. To PR, I had to beat 48:17, my time from the Beach to Beacon 10k last month – that’s a 7:47 minute/mile average, so I was aiming for anything under that. My watch usually is a bit off on pace during races, so I tried to aim faster because I knew it wouldn’t be perfectly accurate.
- Mile 1: 7:22
- Mile 2: 7:19
After running down through Rosslyn, the majority of this race is on the highway, which isn’t the most beautiful, but at least it’s not hilly (just some slight up or down).
You double back the same way, so I had fun cheering for the really fast people once they started heading back past us. I was also totally impressed by this guy with a double wide stroller (and two toddler-aged kids sitting in it) who breezed past me doing like a 7:30 minute/mile looking like he was out for a casual jog. Beast!
Meanwhile, I did my best to maintain a speedy pace without a stroller. 🙂 I felt strong, although fast paces never feel easy, of course, so I had to keep reminding myself to not let the pace slip too much.
- Mile 3: 7:42
- Mile 4: 7:56
Around mile 4.5 was the turnaround to go back towards the finish line – and just before reaching it, I saw Matt coming back the other way! He was about a minute ahead of me, crushing it! Go Matt!
I was definitely starting to feel like I wanted to not keep running fast by this point, but I knew I just had a little while longer to go and that it was worth it feeling hard to potentially PR. I tried to pick the pace back up, since I knew it would be close time-wise for my PR attempt!
- Mile 5: 7:51
- Mile 6: 7:48
When we saw the mile 6 sign I kicked it into high gear. The last quarter mile of the race is basically straight uphill (rude), but I’ve been doing some serious hill repeats with my track group and I knew I could crush it. Lean forward, hands down, shorten stride. I had this!
- Last 0.29 mile (my watch said the course was long, as usual) nubbin pace: 7:16
Yessss – the finish line!!
I sprinted through that thing with all my might. YES – a new PR was mine!! 🙂 My watch told me I did 48:06, but when I looked up my official results I actually was a bit faster – sweet! My new PR is officially 48:02 – a 7:44 average minute/mile pace. Yay! Those track workouts are paying off!
I was especially pumped about my division place (aka how I did compared just to women ages 30 to 39) – I was 14 out of 242. Wow! I want to do some smaller races now and see if I can place! 🙂
As for Matt, he blazed through the finish line at 47:07, with an average pace of 7:35 minute/miles. Wow! So proud of him. Apparently he was too tired to smile properly. 😉
What a fun morning! Also, a big hi to blog readers Betsy and Kevin who we chatted with at the finish area – and hi to fellow blogger Courtney, who I also met at the finish! I love doing local races because there are always so many friends and readers around! 🙂
Matt and I made our way back up the hill to Clarendon (they give you a metro card at the finish line if you want to metro back, but we decided we’d rather walk to cool down), stretched out, and then made a beeline to Le Pain Quotidien for brunch! I ate a banana at the finish line and by the time we got back up the hill I was ready for a real meal. My mom gave me a gift card to LPQ for my birthday – thanks, Mom. 🙂 Omelette, salad, and toast, get in my belly. I also had an unpictured mocha.
As we ate brunch, Matt got texts from a bunch of our friends that said they were going to go on a fun bike ride out to Vienna. Hmmm. We were sore and tired, but not completely destroyed, and we didn’t want to miss out… okay, let’s do it!
We biked from Arlington out to Vienna on the W&OD Trail at a leisurely pace (thankfully), and then stopped at the Vienna Whole Foods (right on the trail) for a snack/hangout break. I had some biscotti and a cashew milk – I’m obsessed with these BluePrint ones.
After about an hour, we hopped back on our bikes to head back! Everyone else picked up the pace for the ride home but I hung back and kept it casual – my quads were pretty trashed. No worries, they waited for me at various stops and didn’t seem to mind. 🙂
When we got back, all of us hung out at our place for awhile and enjoyed a beer, and then it was time for some serious food. The only thing that would do was clearly Ray’s Hellburger. Best burger in the DC area, in my opinion. Thick and juicy and really high quality meat/ingredients, too. I had it topped with mushrooms and caramelized onions, and bacon for good measure. Plus some sweet potato fries on the side. Don’t worry – I had an unpictured salad to start, too. Balance, my friends, balance. 🙂
Such a fun day! The only thing left to do was an early bedtime. We slept well after all that activity, that’s for sure!
Anyone else race this weekend? How did it go?
