The Diplodocus

10 miles. 1 hour, 22 minutes, 34 seconds.  An 8′17″ pace — way faster than I was ever expecting, and good enough for 2155th place out of 5870 men.

There were a few dicey moments early on.  I had no idea there was so much strategy involved in fighting through the early scrum, almost like a chess match, calculating how far back and to the side you have to move in order to keep moving forward.  I also had a slight twinge of “do I have to go to the bathroom?” in the first two miles, but in keeping with how I’ve been training I kept it at bay and took no water stops the entire race.  By miles 4/5 I had hit the meditative point and held it until miles 7 and 8 — which were more physically taxing than anything else.  Maintaining the faster-than-usual pace hit me like a brick right around the Kennedy Center; I contemplated throwing up more than once but battled through.  Miles 9 and 10 were when the adrenaline kicked back in, though I wish I had dug deeper for a stronger final kick and made the top 2000.  Though there were plenty of folks running with iPods, I followed the race rules and found the crowd to be “distraction” enough.

The experience was amazing and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. 

This post is dedicated to Coach Martin, my 9th Grade PE teacher, who gave me a “C” in leisure running.