Rockville Twilight 8k: Relax

I've been sitting back, resting, and lying about my place and thinking over the race from last night. I guess I could say the one word that comes to my mind is disappointment. I had a goal of running under 27 minutes and didn't come close to running it. But at the same time I have learned to put things into prospective and realize that there are certain positives to take out of this race. As I was doing my run this morning I remembered that I had been only seriously training for this race for about three weeks, so to run 5:30 for 5 miles after three weeks isn't to shabby. Also (and not to use this as an excuse, but to point it out) while the temperatures were in the high 70s/low 80s giving an appearance of it feeling cool, the humidity was out there and I'm sure the dew point was in the upper 60s. I'm not sure what the dew point was but after doing an eleven minute warm up, I was already sweating a bit. As this was a new race in a new place I wasn't really sure what the course was going to be like. I had been told the race was hilly, and while compared to what I've raced in Charlotte it wasn't that hilly, but looking at my garmin stats three of the five miles there was a net climb over a net descent. With that being said this was the fastest 8k that I've run before, and looking over the many positives I'll take this result and go forward. After this pity party of sorts let's go to the new and improved running diary!

6:30 am This is my sleeping in time now. Ah geez! I went to bed the night before at 9:45 because I was just to tired. Waking up at this time I walked around my place and got ready to do an easy shake out run.

7 am Ran a nice 4 mile shake out run. If my friends in Charlotte were doing the 4 miler well why not do one myself. The morning was gorgeous this morning. In the 60s nice breeze made it feel cooler. Opted to wear a long sleeve shirt. It felt good. Ran just under thirty minutes.

8am After eating breakfast see that I received a text message from my sister last night. Apparently I didn't hear it at all. It was at 10:15. I then realize that I am an old man in that I slept through the message. I had the phone on vibrate and it was right next to me. That must be sign 1 that I'm getting old.

9-11:30 am I decide that it would be a good time to relax and watch the tour and the open championship. It was at this time that I took a nap. It was probably a thirty minute nap. It was also a nap where I fell asleep in my nice relaxing chair. It was an old man nap.

11:45-12:45 pm As with my usual custom for a pre race meal I needed to get my shells and pasta from Harris Teeter. The closest one to my place is off the U Street metro. I ended up taking the metro and then walking to just under a mile to HT. Let me tell you about this HT. You have to walk up stairs to get to it! But they didn't have my meal. Instead I bought some spaghetti for lunch.

1:15-2 pm Eat the spaghetti and cook the take and bake bread. Is there any other bread that's better to make than the take and bake bread? I think not. It's also at this point to say that when I was working at Harris Teeter I use to work the bread kiosk from time to time. I can't tell you how many free samples I would eat there, but let's say it was anywhere from 2-3 loafs.

2-5:30 pm Not a whole lot going on here. I watched some tv and then tried to take a nap. The nap went alright, but it wasn't that great of a nap.

5:30-6 pm I get ready to go to the race. Get all my things that I need. Got that, check! Got that, check! I make my way to the metro station and find that the train that I was going to take just leaves as I make my way down the stairs. Total bummer. The next train will be coming in fifteen minutes, total bummer!

6:25-7:35 pm The amount of time that I spent on the metro. The Georgia Ave/Petworth train came at 6:25, then I had to transfer over to the Red line at Chinatown, which it seems that they were doing construction. That meant there was roughly 1,000 people waiting for the trains on one track. One train comes by and I get on and realize they are going in the opposite direction that I want to go on. I jump off in time and then wait a couple minutes and get on the train I need to. I end up standing for most of the train ride and sit down for the last couple stops. I start to feel a bit of motion sickness, but nothing to bad. It was a reassuring sight to see the sun again when we get into Maryland.

7:35-8:15 pm I arrive at Rockville and take the quick trip to the expo. The race is near the town square, which is very nice. A bunch of restaurants, a movie theater, basically a really nice place to spend a Saturday night. Also it's packed. The stores and restaurants are packed. I get my packet. I notice that I get a dry fit shirt. Looking over at the festivities I realize that this race is a step above anything I've ran in in Charlotte.

8:15-8:30 pm Did my warm up. My garmin was acting up a bit and couldn't find a signal for awhile. I ran the first part of the course, which we ran twice. I come back from my warm up and put my bag in the bag check. This race has a lot of people in it. It's crowded. I'm hoping to run well.

8:45- 9:15 pm The race goes off...and immediately I'm way off pace. I was stuck behind the elite women and a bunch of scrubs. I look at my watch and see that I'm running 5:59 pace. It was at this moment where I started to press a bit and move to my left to find a space to move up. After moving up I see that my pace is 5:25, which I figure is going to be where I need to be. I don't check my watch again till the mile marker. The first mile had a small hill in it that I knew about, it also had a downhill right after it. The mile marker was just after the downhill and I hit it in...5:09. Well that wasn't what I was hoping for. Oh well. Also I should note that I'm probably in 25-30 place with a 5:09 mile.

The next mile we turned left into some neighborhoods, and let me tell you about the crowd support IT WAS MASSIVE. People were out in full force. The lines of the streets were packed. It was truly awesome. The second mile had the longest hill and the closest thing that it reminded me was the hill on Morehead, but not as long. I got to the second mile and it was 10:43. I actually felt good and was running well. I wasn't tired at this point. On the third mile we repeated most of what we did in the first mile. At the water stop I ran under this mist stream because I was sweating bad and was over heating. At times I was running by myself and at other times I was with people. One thing that I need to work on is to suck it up and run with a group, consequences be damned. I hit the three mile mark at 16:16.

The fourth mile was one that was probably the most out there from the spectators. We ran through parking lots going back and forth. It was at this point where I told myself that I had to catch three people and not get passed. I almost got this goal, I passed two people in the last mile. The fourth mile I wasn't feeling that great, but I still was positive and was flashing a smile. I hit the four mile marker at 22:06. At this point we were on the last mile. I knew that we stayed on the main street for the last mile. I figure ok it was time to start moving. I picked up the pace and realized that I stuff in the tank. I kinda used certain points in the course when to really pick it up. But I got confused and started to really pick it up earlier than when I should have. It didn't really cost me anything, other than not catching the guy who was in front of me with the truly awful stride. But I was able to drop a couple guys at the end and finished the last .97 with a 5:11. I finished with a 27:22. That's what my watch said. I'm taking that to the bank. My garmin measured the course at 5.04. Oh well. I was spent after the race, I probably could have ran a bit faster. I was a bit disappointed after the race, but I knew that there was much more important things going on with my life, and that honestly this wasn't going to get me down like it did after Twilight. I have another race lined up time to get to work on that race.

9:30 pm Did my cool down in my flats. It was slow and barely 3/4 of a mile. I got my stuff from the bag check, got some free food, and then walked back to the metro station. I got a free lemonade, but it had zero calories which meant that it tasted like crap. I ended up not finding a place to get something to eat and made my way to the metro station. I had at least an hour ride on the train, I was not looking forward to it.

9:54-10:55 pm Got on the train and was glad that I was able to find a seat. I was sending texts to Emily, which was good. Although some thoughts were going in my head. A) I hope I don't have to go to the bathroom, B) If I do have to go, where would I go?, C) Why is nobody sitting next to me? I looked in the glass and saw that I looked like death, I also realized that I smelled really bad and that when I got up from my seat it was covered in sweat. I am a disgusting person.

11-11:45 pm I ended up taking a shower. I was going to eat some chicken strips, but I was to tired to make them, so I just ate a bowl of cereal. I was tired and after I ate it I went to bed.

In looking back at the race when I was walking back to the metro station I realized that running really does show a person about life. And for me I need to find a balance and relax. I started to flip out a bit on the train going there, thinking I wasn't going to get to the race on time. I got way to impatient in the first mile and it cost me. I think that in order for me to go forward I'm going to need to pick my spot when I need to push it, and at the beginning of the race is not it. Maybe in the second mile? Also I realized that I might need to change things up a bit in training.

But I also looked and really want to focus on the positives. I never gave up and quit in the race. I competed as best as I could. I never totally broke my stride. I like how I ran the last bit hard. I like that I was able to bounce back in this road race after Twilight. I like how I was smiling during and after the race. Also I like how I enjoyed this race. Maybe it's work or maybe it's a change of scenery but I'm feeling good. I do realize that right now I'm only three weeks into some training and that three or four more weeks I'll be in better shape. This race was a good indication of where my fitness is. It was a summer night race and those are tough mentally and physically, but I feel that I held up well and can only see myself getting stronger. I'm working on things and feel that I'm getting better. On to the next race.