Ukrop's Monument Ave 10k/U.S. Men's 10k National Championship
10 km run
On a wet, blustery April morning 31,158 registered runners/walkers toed the line at the intersections of Harrison and Broad Streets in Richmond, VA for the 9th annual Ukrop's Monument Ave 10k. Leading the pack were the elitest of runners: former and would-be Olympians, USA Track and Field stand-outs, studs of the running world. For this local race was more than just an exercise in health to benefit cancer research, but the U.S. Men's 10km National Championship. Abdi Abdirahman, of Tuscon, AZ won the race in an astounding, 28:31. For more about the race from an objective point-of-view, go here.
Parking was easy to come by arriving from the West. I suppose the throng of racers live in the East-end as the parking garage my wife and I parked in was quite empty at 07:45. We walked the 4 blocks to Monroe Park, the site of the finish line and bag check. Of course, the heavens parted and drenched everyone in rain water once we checked in our rain gear and headed to the start.
I started in the "G" group, G8279. This group's predicted finish time was 55 minutes and was the 8th wave to start, 27 minutes after the gun sounded for the Nat'l Championship Men at 08:30. I started the Garmin and crossed the timing mat. Game on.
I had mixed feelings going into race. My fastest pace over a distance greater than 6 miles was just over 9 min/mi. 9 minute miles does not yield 55 min 10km. And yet I've PR'ed the 3mi distance at sub 8 min/mi pace just 1 month ago...something's gotta give.
The course started on Broad and met up with Monument Ave at Stuart Circle, our round-about of 1/100 the magnitude of the Arc de Triumph in Paris. The rain continued to fall as I passed the 1 mi mark in 7:30, maybe too fast a start to a 6.2 mi race.
Once I passed the 2 mi mark I knew I just had to maintain pace to reach the 55:00 minute goal. The miles ticked by every 8 minutes or so, until I met the 6 mile mark on the East side of Stuart Circle and caught sight of the finish. Imagine thousands of bodies hurtling through space, across wet pavement all toward the same location. Men and women, dropping like flies and some pushing themselves to the limit, some walking some bent over. The last 0.2 miles were the hardest, yet most fun. The street was lined with spectators decked out in umbrellas and raincoats gladfully cheering on the participants. I pushed it down the home stretch and crossed the mat at an official time of 01:17:24, or factoring out the 27 minute delay from the G-wave start, a net finish time of:
00:50:15 Personal Record!
08:05/mi pace.
23:38 3mi time (close to PR by 15 sec!)
25:03 5k time (close to PR by 30 sec!)
40:06 8k time (PR!)
252/789 Men 20-24
2060/9976 All Men
2580/24055 Overall
One more thing, we watched the CBS coverage of the event Sunday night and I have a cameo at the 01:27:00 mark of the video. This should be around the 3.75 mi mark, 30 min into my run.
10 km run
On a wet, blustery April morning 31,158 registered runners/walkers toed the line at the intersections of Harrison and Broad Streets in Richmond, VA for the 9th annual Ukrop's Monument Ave 10k. Leading the pack were the elitest of runners: former and would-be Olympians, USA Track and Field stand-outs, studs of the running world. For this local race was more than just an exercise in health to benefit cancer research, but the U.S. Men's 10km National Championship. Abdi Abdirahman, of Tuscon, AZ won the race in an astounding, 28:31. For more about the race from an objective point-of-view, go here.
Parking was easy to come by arriving from the West. I suppose the throng of racers live in the East-end as the parking garage my wife and I parked in was quite empty at 07:45. We walked the 4 blocks to Monroe Park, the site of the finish line and bag check. Of course, the heavens parted and drenched everyone in rain water once we checked in our rain gear and headed to the start.
I started in the "G" group, G8279. This group's predicted finish time was 55 minutes and was the 8th wave to start, 27 minutes after the gun sounded for the Nat'l Championship Men at 08:30. I started the Garmin and crossed the timing mat. Game on.
I had mixed feelings going into race. My fastest pace over a distance greater than 6 miles was just over 9 min/mi. 9 minute miles does not yield 55 min 10km. And yet I've PR'ed the 3mi distance at sub 8 min/mi pace just 1 month ago...something's gotta give.
The course started on Broad and met up with Monument Ave at Stuart Circle, our round-about of 1/100 the magnitude of the Arc de Triumph in Paris. The rain continued to fall as I passed the 1 mi mark in 7:30, maybe too fast a start to a 6.2 mi race.
Once I passed the 2 mi mark I knew I just had to maintain pace to reach the 55:00 minute goal. The miles ticked by every 8 minutes or so, until I met the 6 mile mark on the East side of Stuart Circle and caught sight of the finish. Imagine thousands of bodies hurtling through space, across wet pavement all toward the same location. Men and women, dropping like flies and some pushing themselves to the limit, some walking some bent over. The last 0.2 miles were the hardest, yet most fun. The street was lined with spectators decked out in umbrellas and raincoats gladfully cheering on the participants. I pushed it down the home stretch and crossed the mat at an official time of 01:17:24, or factoring out the 27 minute delay from the G-wave start, a net finish time of:
00:50:15 Personal Record!
08:05/mi pace.
23:38 3mi time (close to PR by 15 sec!)
25:03 5k time (close to PR by 30 sec!)
40:06 8k time (PR!)
252/789 Men 20-24
2060/9976 All Men
2580/24055 Overall
One more thing, we watched the CBS coverage of the event Sunday night and I have a cameo at the 01:27:00 mark of the video. This should be around the 3.75 mi mark, 30 min into my run.
Labels: Race Report, Running
1 Comments:
Dude,
Awesome -- sounds like a great experience.
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