Sunday, June 14, 2009

Race Report from the Lawyers Have Heart 10K

Yes, you read right. The race I ran in D.C. yesterday had a rather peculiar name. Ever since I registered for this race a month ago, I’d been wondering if the name was a reminder to lawyers to take care of their pumping chambers or if it was just a reference to the rest of us that lawyers too can be caring and sentimental. I wasn’t sure so I asked the race volunteer handing out race bibs at number pickup a few days ago. To my surprise, she didn’t know either. Or maybe she did and just didn’t want to tell me. A fellow racer later told me that the race was 19 years old and it was sponsored by both Legal Times and the American Heart Association. Everything else would be subject to individual interpretation.

Other than this little snafu, the race itself turned out to be a blast and I had fun competing with the fittest people in the country. Although there were over 3,600 runners out on the course today, separated into two wave starts (smart move!), there was minimal congestion and plenty of post-race food and water to go around. The race volunteers all did a great job orchestrating the masses and directing runner traffic at the starting area. The bag dropoff/pickup was efficient as the assembly line of high school girls organized the area to perfection. Even the singing of the national anthem was momentus, as it was performed by a young aspiring vocalist who apparently is nationally renounced, as I was told by one of my race neighbors.

The course itself was simple yet scenic and made for a fast race. It basically consisted of running onto a blocked off section of a highway for about a mile, then off an exit onto a neighboring town for another mile, then along a road next to a river for slightly more than a mile before hitting the turnaround and going back the same way we came. Other than the big climb to the highway from the street at the start, there were some small rolling hills just to keep things interesting. There was good crowd support at the start and end of the race but for most of the way out there, I was basically listening to the sound of my own breathing and the rhythm of other people’s footfalls to keep me entertained. This was fine by me. I enjoyed running next to the water and the trees and bodning with nature if only for a little while.

As for my own performance, I ran a good race today but not a great one. I did not PR (Goal A), falling short by a good 25 seconds but I did run my second-fastest time ever for the distance, easily beating my 10K time at this point last year and my Goal B time of 39:30. This result is to be expected since as I haven’t kept up with speedwork and haven’t run nearly as much as I had been running a month ago. My pacing was pretty consistent throughout the race which I’m happy about and I didn’t feel as fatigued as I thought I would pushing through the hills. I would have liked to have been able to pick up the pace a bit more towards the end, but otherwise felt I ran the best race I could.

In the end, I crossed the finish line in 39:24 for an average pace of 6:21 min/mile. I placed 78 out of 1845 males and 25 out of 655 in my age division. This is pretty much on par with my recent race results back home so I think I held my own out there today. The coolest part of the race was when the MC called out my name as I was crossing the finish line and thanked me personally for traveling so far to run this race. I heard some loud cheers from the audience and took a bow just for fun to show my appreciation.

After my experience today, I can’t say I’m convinced that lawyers indeed are creatures of sentiment (for those readers who are affiliated with the law profession, I kid of course…) but since I’m all for healing hearts, I suggest all those who’ll be in D.C. next year around this time to check out this race. It really was well-organized and loads of fun…even if you don’t happen to be a lawyer!

Mile Splits:
Mile 1 – 6:20
Mile 2 – 6:18
Mile 3 – 6:27
Mile 4 – 6:25
Mile 5 – 6:26
Mile 6 – 6:19
Last 0.2 – 1:09 (5:45 pace)

20 comments:

B.o.B. said...

wow awesome job! way to kick it in at the end.

Running and living said...

V nice, particularly since you mentioned at some point that you don't race well outside of your "home".
I can't believe you only have one more race scheduled before NYCM! How are you going to make it? Ana-Maria

Michelle said...

Great race Lam1!

J said...

Great job on the race. Must have been fun to run a race in a new place!

runner26 said...

nice race, lam! And a most excellent time!!

Robert said...

Sounds like fun. Racing in another city always adds a little excitement. And, it looks like you had a nice little kick at the end there. Nice work!

Irish Cream said...

AWESOME race, Lam! Way to represent! :)

I LOVE running races in new places. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am highly appreciative of the organization and near standardization of the NYRR races--it's good to know what to expect--but sometimes it can be super fun to throw something new and different into the mix. Good for you for racing!

Lindsay said...

nice job! love the bow at the end :) very cool of the announcer to give you a 'shout out'.

Actress1924 said...

Congrats on running such a great race! And how cool is it that you received public recognition at the finish line?

I also think it's funny that no one really knew the meaning behind the event name. Just last week I had asked someone at NYRR when I was picking up my bib what the "mini" stood for in the Women's Mini 10k (because it's still a full-length 10k), and he ended up asking a bunch of people, who also didn't know, before someone concluded/guessed that it was because the runner's pool is much smaller (later proved not true). I guess some race titles are just open to interpretation.

Anyway, kudos again on kicking some serious butt. You would have been a lot of fun to watch on the last .2 miles!

Vava said...

Nice run!

X-Country2 said...

Great race! I've always heard the best way to see DC is on foot, so turning that into a race is perfect.

Jamie said...

Great race lam! I love racing in different places!

Run For Life said...

Haha, that's an awesome race name! Congrats on running well with little speedwork under your belt. :)

Chic Runner said...

nice job and nice splits. You are one speedy one lam. That is the best name though, hands down.

Anonymous said...

awesome job!!! sounds like a really nice day and a really fun race. those are some really even splits :)

Aron said...

awesome job on those splits!! you did great and love that you got to race while in DC! so fun :)

Nitmos said...

What's next? The Flower Scented Carny 5k? What is the world coming to?

Nice job on the 10k!

joyRuN said...

Nice job on the race! It's gotta be fun to race in new locations.

Hmmm... lawyers I know would be the first to tell you what how heartless their profession can be ;)

M2Marathon said...

It blows my mind that you run that fast and still come in 78th place! That is surreal!! But great race and very cool that you participated while visiting. Good race report.

Bill Carter said...

Hi LL

I think that is an exceptional time. You have been doing a lot lately (not to mention that little thing called work) and all of that makes it almost impossible to run PRs all the time. I am certainly cutting back on my races for a while as I am so burned out.

D.C. is such a cool place it must have been awesome to run there.

Take care Lam.

 
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