Army 10 Miler – 2006.
Overall place: 3312
Division (F 20-24): 80/551
Div Place/Total: 80/551
Sex Place/Total: 581/6619
Chip Time: 1:21:46
Pace: 8:10.6What a morning. Woke up at 5:15 a.m. and had a bowl of oatmeal. Dressed, teeth brushed, bag packed with watch, visor, body glide, etc. James and I left Baltimore at 5:50 a.m. (do I have the best husband, or what?) — still totally dark outside — to get to Andrea’s place in NoVa. We got there around 7:00 a.m., parked, and walked to the Metro (which opened an hour earlier than normal). It was a little chilly at around 50* F. The Metro was sort of crowded with runners and some (very loving!) spectators at 7:15 a.m.
We arrived at the Pentagon at 7:40ish a.m. … thought we had plenty of time to wait in line and use the port-o-potties. Wave one (the fast people) started at 8:00 … the rest of us started at 8:10. It was 8:00 a.m. and we hadn’t moved very far in line. Not going wasn’t an option, so we waited. Wave one started. Okay, it was okay, we still had 10 minutes. Wave 2 started… and there were still a couple of people in front of us. I was, as you can imagine, stressing majorly! Because this was a chip race, it really didn’t matter when we crossed the start line, but the rush was still frustrating. Andi waited for me to go because she’s my twinnie like that <3. We jogged to the (moving) starting line and … off we go! The first mile … um, the first three miles, were horribly crowded. I spent a lot of time running sideways to pass people and dodge walkers, which was seriously annoying. I – amazingly – did the first mile in 7:45, which is ridiculous. The clock said 27:45 because we didn’t get to the start until 20 minutes after the first gun fired. Crazy. Glad I had my watch to know my real time. The course was along a very pretty route in the district. The spectator support was pretty good. I saw runners running the other direction and thought, Sweet, the turn around must be coming up… yeah, if my “coming up” I meant in 1.5 miles. Haha. I was at mile 6 and still running around people. Next year I start with the Kenyans 
A spectator around there “One more mile, HAHA.” Not even a little bit funny. Miles 6-9 were pretty uneventful. Army served Gatorade Endurance and water on the course, which was great. There were some Army bands along the way too. At mile 9 I (tried to) pick it up and kick it to the finish. There was a slight uphill at the end (just like at the end of MCM — what is wrong with the military?), and then around the corner was the chute. I sprinted and just about ran into a guy in front of me. Still crowded, even at mile 9.9! I guess that’s to be expected from a race with 24,000 – 27,000 runners. Still, I think Army could have done corrals, like VA Beach Rock&Rock Half did .. not like it would have mattered, though, because of when I made it to the start line. But, you know, for the future
Anyhow, my watch time was 1:21:47, a second off of my actual chip time. My goal was to come in under 1:23:00 so I’m happy with my time. I keep thinking … if I didn’t have to dodge all of those people, I could have come in under 1:20:00, but that’s silly. I have many more races in my future (a marathon, in fact, in less than three weeks, and a marathon relay the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and several chances to make new goals and meet ‘em.
Went through the runner’s chute, turned in my chip, got my finishers coin, water, and chocolate chip cookie (yum). I met James and John (Andi’s boyfriend) at the finish. We saw Andi finish (who met her goal – yay twinnie-a!) , then took the Metro back to the cars. Silver Diner for brunch (pecan pancakes — excellent reward). Back to Bawlmor, Hon, and I napped most of the way.
