Race Report: HCA Virginia 8k

Date: November 10, 2012
Distance: 8k (4.97 miles)
Time: 1:10:57
Pace: 14:17 min/mile
Overall Place: 2957/3587
Age Group (F 30-34) Place: 316/384


Woke up, got dressed, and made an espresso before leaving the house. Drove to the race site, parked in my normal downtown lot, and walked to starting line.

Walked 5 blocks from parking lot to the bag drop off. Dropped bag off, walked to starting corral two blocks away. Bounced around to keep warm.

Really wasn't feeling this run - I'd been really sick for the week leading up to it and wasn't sleeping well. In fact, I seriously considered sleeping in and skipping it. But, since I had post-race plans with Kristen and Judi, I sucked it up and went. My strategy was to have planned walk/run intervals. But, my Garmin was dead when I went to grab it in the morning. So, at the start of the race i decided to do intervals based on blocks.

I ran the first 7 blocks, then walked 7. Kept alternating that the whole way. I tried to ignore all the people passing me - even when I was running - and stick with my own pace. It's not really the easiest thing to do. Despite that, I was pretty surprised at how quickly the blocks were going. I ended up shortening some of my walk intervals because I felt so good and wasn't having huge problems breathing because of the cold like I expected. When I got to the 4 mile marker, I decided to walk up a few last blocks uphill and then run the rest of the way. The last 0.4 miles or so are all downhill, so I really passed lots of people by kicking it out on the last big hill section. That felt great!

Given my physical condition, I'm not sure there's a lot I would have changed about how I handled this. I was sick and was never going to run the whole thing.

Walked around the island, got food. Stood in line at the McDonald's truck for free coffee and smoothie samples - they were totally not worth it! The coffee was terrible. Walked ALLLL the way up the hill to bag check (who's genius idea was that?) and then back down to wait for Judi to finish. Knit a few rows of my shawl while waiting and got some crazy weird looks.

Once Judi finished, we walked to her car and then to Starbuck's to get some real coffee! Changed clothes in the Omni, then went back down to find Kristen who was stuck in the med tent. We sprung Kristen and walked to Cap Ale House to get some food and a beer. Great post-race food plan!!