Saturday morning, 3/20/10, Lindy picked me up and we headed to Robert F. Kennedy stadium/ DC armory. The armory was open for athletes to hang-out, warm-up, and use the indoor toilets--I wish all races had such amenities! I left my gear in the DC Triathlon Club booth and I lined up at the 8:30 min/mile flag that was ¼ mile behind the start line. Naturally, when the race started I realized everyone else at 8:30 was doing a 10 minute-mile! D’oh. This always happens to me, but I can’t bring myself to line-up in a way-too-fast corral. I saw several people fall within the first mile, so I was lucky to just be annoyed.
By the second mile racers were able to run in both lanes on Capitol Street so the crowd reached a comfortable density. I settled-in right behind the 3:40 pacers (8:20 ish) and kicked-back and enjoyed the run. I managed the 20% grade pretty well and, amazingly, managed to keep up with the 3:40 pacers.
The climb between mile 6 and mile 8 put me in my place, however, and I settled into a 8:40 pace until mile 12 when I just got freakin’ TIRED and did a 9:06 mile. I had to tell myself, “Sarah, less than 10 minutes to go,” and this pepped me up! I was really happy with my final time, a new PR, by several minutes:
2048 218/1024 F2529 2:00:15 1:54:17 8:44 Sarah Low 29 F 1008 Arlington VA
This is the only picture the race photographer got of me:
Altogether, a good day! 2 Weeks until "official" SavageMan training begins!
