Lady Distance Classic 2010

I had a good race this morning at the Lady Distance Classic 10k. My goal was around 57 minutes, and I finished in 55:16 (unofficial), so I am pretty pleased. This is a tough course and I'm still not in very good shape---though I am making progress. Last year I "ran" it while recovering from injuries and was about 12 minute slower.

It's the 8th year for this event, and I have participated every year, running the 5k for the first four years and switching to the 10k (to get a longer "training" run in, mostly) more recently. I did manage to place in my age group in the 5k a few times, but that's basically impossible in the 10k---although as I age, if I can maintain this pace, it might be possible through attrition. That's right, I just need more women my age to die off.

Besides just feeling the urge to keep this streak going, there are a few things that bring me back to this race each year:

• Nice technical tees in a woman's cut provided by Brooks (although they were that yucky gray color this year, what is up with that, I think this is the third gray tee I've gotten at a race this year);
• The "fitness festival" post-race, which usually has a better supply of eats than we see at typical races.
• And...that's it, really. Oh, except that there aren't that many opportunities to race at the 10k distance.

Picked up my race packet yesterday afternoon at the Fleet Feet store that sponsors the race. They were also having some sort of event sponsored by Brooks that included gait analysis and some weird travelling tour bus/museum thing, but I didn't go in that because it didn't look air conditioned.

I did, however, make some purchases at the store:

• A cute black running skirt with the race logo on it, at 20% off
• A bra top, not so cute in white with yellow piping, but at 40% off, and frankly I don't care what my running clothes look like as long as they are comfortable and fit.

Had to endure the "help" of a store clerk, who was basically the one who pushed me into making the purchases. I was lingering by the skirt display, and had about decided that they were too expensive, and I wasn't sure about the fit and didn't want to try one on. But she went on and on about how cute they were, and comfortable, and how I would love it. So basically I succumbed to the pressure. She was even pushing me to try it on in small. Flattery will get you everywhere. She kept wanting to see how it looked on me and said she would tell me the truth, blah, blah, blah, but no way I was modeling the skirt for anybody in my current fat state. I went with the medium, and arguably could have even considered the large. But I felt better about it when I found out it was 20% off.

I know, I do wear these things outside to run in, but I feel quite anonymous most of the time when I'm running so it's easier to appear in public half naked. Different thing when trying something on in the store. Bad enough that I had to look at my thunder thighs and the cellulite in my upper arms, I am not sharing that with anybody outside the immediate family.

Left the house at 6:15 this morning for the 7:15 race start. As the race has grown in size, they have had to arrange parking at Raymond Walters college, which is about a half mile from the start and maybe a mile from the finish. In the early years, we just parked in the lot at the rec center, Then gradually, they had to expand the parking to neighboring lots that belonged to businesses that were closed on the weekend. And now it's too big even for that.

Parked the car and headed towards the start in a slow jog. Didn't feel that great but I've learned you can't tell anything from the warmup.

Continued running up the the hill past the start line, until I had covered a mile, and then turned around to jog back. Was feeling better by that point. Found a quiet spot (well, relatively quiet spot in the huge crowd of lady penguins) to do some active stretching.

Oh, about the general ambiance. This is one of the things I don't like about this race, the female camaraderie and general yuckiness of it. I guess it would be okay if I was there with somebody to talk to, like the year I went with Susan. But by myself, it is no fun. I don't mind being alone, except in a crowd of people who are all there in groups.

Took my place at behind the start line and waited for the singing of the National Anthem. Usually they have somebody good, who can actually sing, like a voice student from CCM. But this year they had some kid that supposedly they enlisted just moments before, and she didn't sing it any better than I would have. Which I guess accounted for her request that we all sing along, as it was necessary to drown her out. But we didn't and it didn't, and she couldn't sing.

Tried to put myself in a more competitive position this year than the last few times, since I am a bit more fit and didn't want to get boxed in. There were a surprising number of hefty penguins even fairly close to the start. You get a lot of that at this race, plus women wearing the race tee and with their numbers pinned to their back. But I managed to find a good spot for a change.

First mile, mostly uphill, I settle right in to a pace that feels sustainable but quicker than a training run, Hit the mile marker in 8:40, at least 10 seconds faster than I expected. This was encouraging. Grabbed a cup of water at the first stop, walked for about 20 seconds and drank most of it.

Last year the "stroller brigage" (an actual, separate race category with prizes and everything---the top three women this year win new strollers!) passed me in the first half mile, and they start a minute after the runners. This year, I didn't get passed by the top three women until close to the two mile mark, so obviously I was having a much better race. Mile two was an 8:27. Woo.

Near the end of the third mile, I had to face the psychological pain of knowing that I would be done soon if i were doing the 5k, as we pass by the turn to the finish line and have to listen to the announcer cheering people home. I was encouraged to note, however, that my time seemed to be a bit faster than my 5k time from the Fairfax race last month. This is not an easy course, either, so that says something about how my training and general fitness has been going---even if I am still a fat pig.

 Hit mile three (and second water stop) in 8:58. That's 26:05 for 3 miles. The next mile begins with a repeat of the race start, so it's mostly uphill. Still wasn't feeling too bad. Just tried to keep a steady pace. The four mile mark is just inside a residential neighborhood. 9:03 for that mile. I would have liked to be keeping it under 9 minute pace, but I was already still way ahead of my plan so it didn't really bother me, and anyway, that mile WAS uphill. Saw old running buddy Bob Platt directing us around a cul-de-sac, and heard him cheering for someone named "Jennifer" who was coming up alongside me.

This Jennifer had a very heavy footfall and was really chugging for air, and I expected her to be some gigantic lady penguin, but one of those who despite appearances is still faster than me. When I turned to look at her, I was surprised to see that it was Jennifer Black, twin sister of my congresswoman. Far from a penguin. Both these ladies are pretty competitive age group runners. Jennifer is a little slower than her sister, but the fact remains that I've probably only beaten her in a race once, maybe not even once, and that was when I was in a lot better shape than I am now.

Anyway, I let her go by. She's not in my age group anyway. She's older.  Maybe I just gave up because I didn't think I should be able to keep up with her. So she gradually started to pull away.

I concentrated on more accessible targets. There was one woman, for example, whom I had noticed at the start. She had that kind of broad-shouldered, triathlete kind of body---fit, but with the extra fat layer of someone who spends a good bit of time in the water. She was wearing a little dark pink running skirt that was getting hiked up by her fanny pack, and now we all could see that the panties underneath the skirt were white, and oh this was so not a good fashion choice. So I wanted to beat this chick if only so I wouldn't have to keep trying not to catch a full-on glimpse of her ass. I'm sure Tommy would have loved this but it was not for me.

Mile five was 8:44. Maybe I had pressed a bit too much trying to keep up with Jennifer, and pass white panty girl, but suddenly I was in distress. This also coincided with the significant hills of the last mile. I slowed to a crawl. Continued forward motion but incredibly slowly. Gagging and wheezing and spitting. I was still going to get a better time than expected, just had to get through it.

After a little bit of heaving, I gradually started feeling better. Some women passed me but not white panty girl. Mile 6 was a 9:40, but I didn't look down at my watch just then. Got passed by some tall woman I hadn't seen before, but managed to kick past her at the end. Should make for an interesting finish line photo. Kicking doesn't matter much if you're in the pack at a chip-timed race, if you aren't sure that somebody crossed the start line at the same time you did. But I kicked like it was the Olympics, and I had to beat her for the gold.

And then there was some vomiting, you betcha. Good thing I had only one cup of coffee this morning and that was it. Coulda been worse.

Grabbed a water bottle and headed into the fitness festival. One of the irritating things about this is the heavy congestion getting in, with all the penguins finishing their 5ks right at the time I finish the 10k, plus all their penguin relatives who are there to cheer them on. I actually observed one penguin almost get into a fight with the volunteer who was cutting the chips off our shoes. The woman walked past the volunteer, and the volunteer said "ma'am I need to remove your chip" and I seriously thought the penguin was going to smack the poor volunteer. She did start mouthing off at her. I know. She was one of those big, tall, hefty, hostile types, and the volunteer was just this little blonde thing. I switched to another line so I don't know how it ended.

It's better if you do the 5k, because the penguins aren't back yet when you finish. Yes, I am fully aware that I am a penguin compared to all of the women who finished ahead of me. But I do try to be polite.

I guess it was a harder push for me this year after all, so I wasn't as hungry as usual after the race. All I wanted was a banana and a bit of bagel, something cool to drink and then to head back to the car. But for once, there were no bagels or bananas to be found. I did have a small piece of the traditional Cake by Margo, but just a tiny piece for a change and I didn't even enjoy it as much as usual. Skipped the Starbucks, too, because I was too hot still for coffee and there was a line. Ended up with a large lemonade in a big cup of ice from Penn Station, thought about a sno-cone, but instead had a small strawberry smoothie on my way out. Poured some of that into the lemonade so I'd only have one thing to carry.

Not as many good freebies as in previous years, either. There was a sample size of Secret in the bags they handed us at the entrance,  to which I added a tube of chapstick and some hand sanitizer.

And now I await the race results. Last year I was 10 of 30 in my age group. It would be nice to think with this much faster time that I had improved on that a bit, but it depends on who else was there.