GW Parkway Classic Race Report

by - Monday, April 23, 2012

On Friday I talked about how I wasn't really looking forward to the 10 mile race I had this weekend. By Saturday I was trying to get a little bit excited, but it still wasn't happening.

Running in the rain isn't fun and I just wasn't looking forward to the early wake-up call.

So I made a deal with myself before going to bed Saturday night. If it was pouring rain when my alarm went off, I would skip the race and go back to sleep.


Fortunately/unfortunately (I'm still not sure), it wasn't raining at 4 a.m. on Sunday. So I dragged myself out of bed and over to Alexandria, VA to board the buses to take me to the start line.

Since I didn't know anyone else running, I made friends with the girl I sat next to on the bus. We chatted about races and training. We found out we're both signed up for Marine Corps in the fall. Yay for new runner friends!

It started pouring not long after the buses dropped us off at the start line. Luckily Pacers was prepared for this and had set up a few tents for runners to wait under and handed out Mylar blankets. While huddling in the tent, I spotted Sarah and Jay. It's much more fun killing time at the start line with friends!

The rain eventually tapered off to a light drizzle of some sort as the race started.


Because of the weather I wore a pair of old shoes and carried no electronics. No phone, no Ipod, no Garmin. (Hence the lack of pictures).

I could tell running ten miles in my old shoes was going to be less-than-enjoyable. Since I wasn't racing hard, I took walk breaks when I needed to help loosen up my hip/knee/IT band. Somewhere near mile 5, I stopped to stretch since my left leg was really, really tight.

I was enjoying the course though and having a good time. The miles seemed to pass pretty quickly, even though I wasn't moving very fast. It took me a while to settle into a groove, but finally, by the 10K I started to feel good.

The best part about running a 10 miler the week after a half marathon? Getting to mile 8, thinking you still have five more miles to go, but then realizing you actually only have two to go!

The last two miles of the course went through parts of Alexandria and had pretty decent crowd support.

I crossed the finish line in 1:37:03, certainly not my fastest 10 mile time, but not too shabby for a race where I took many, many walk break and stopped to stretch.

Luckily, I finished the race just before the real downpour started. I quickly grabbed a post-race Gatorade and bagel before high-tailing back to my car and out of the rain.

At the end of the day, I'm glad I did the race. It was a fun run on a great course and it earned me some points in the Pacers Race Series. I <3 Pacers events!

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