The Ten 5k Challenge, Race #3 Recap (Reston, VA)

I decided to run a 5k far from home, as we had made family plans to visit my cousin in Virginia for the July 4th holiday weekend. There was one nearby, the inaugural Firecracker 5k in Reston, Virginia, which I registered for online.

It was quite the race!

I got up early, got my packet and got my chip all tethered to my shoelaces nice and early. Was ready to go a good 50 or so minutes before the 8 AM start. We were racing in a nice little neighborhood of condos and bars/restaurants. Basically we started in the middle of it, ran a loop around the outside of it and then finished near where we started.

Somehow, due to the increasing heat and the one-way nature of the loop, it seemed as though 90% of the run was uphill. Much of the middle 2 miles or so was also in the direct sun and it was warming up out there by the minute. Good crowd, over 500 names pre-registered and more showing up. They announced it as over 800 runners though ultimately only 675 finish times were posted.

The mile markers were not in the correct locations, as far as I could tell. I broke into a nice sprint out of the box and even though I was running uphill in the sun, I felt like I was setting a decent pace. That first mile marker just kept not showing up, the fuck! Finally I hit what they are calling one mile at 8:02. I think, "That can't be right." And as I think it, someone else says it out loud and another guy goes "that's long." So I assume they've staked out the marker incorrectly, this being the inaugural 5k on this course.

I keep huffing it uphill, around and around the loop. A nice quiet run with 700 people I don't know. No physical problems, a tiny twinge in my right knee but nothing that affects my pace. I hit the second mile marker at 14:50! Now, that's 21 seconds faster than my fastest ever split, and I deduce that once again they've messed up the mile markers. Ah well, just run your race I tell myself. I hit the water station, one cup to the head/back and I don't break stride.

At some point a kid, maybe 14, asks me what my pace is. "Usually about 7:30-7:40" I pant to him. He gives me a "Really?" and then, of course, dusts me. I can't help but laugh, and I remark to a woman my age how much I love getting whipped by these kids. "I know," she replies, "I've been trailing him the entire race." This is funny to me.

Finally, as I keep winding up the corkscrew, I hit the third mile marker at a total time of 22:30. Now I'm happy, this lines up with how fast I feel like I've ran and what I have left. The last .1 is, of course, a run uphill and around a bend. I keep my pace but don't have enough to sprint the finish... I'm giving it all just to keep the pace. Gun time of 23:49, and chip time (and my watch time) of 23:39. I finished 94th out of 317 men, 21st out of 55 men age 35-39, and 124th overall out of 675 runners. Very happy with my performance... again, I beat my last race time by a substantial margin and made a good showing. The shirts they gave away are very nice, like that cool running mesh type instead of just a cotton tee.

Followed this up with a trip to DC to watch the Mets whip the Nationals, soak up more sun, have beer and burgers and good times all around. A super day.

Next race is in July 28th in Liverpool. A weeknight 5k race, should be an interesting day.