Race Results available at http://www.mcrrc.org/racing/2008/08turkeychase.htm
Its been about a month since I did any running. I wanted an accurate gauge of where I am currently so I signed up for the Turkey Chase 10K after visiting mcrrc.org website and noticed that they were managing the race time. I didn’t really train as hard as I could’ve for this race. I was thinking that I’d probably do bad and it would give me motivations to train harder throughout winter.
One of the reason I wanted to run a road race was to test out my new toy. The infamous Garmin Forerunner 305. In hindsight I should’ve wore the heart monitor for better analysis of my race. I cannot say enough good things about this watch. The in depth analysis of each runs are incredible. Couple with the online tools provided free of charge by MotionBased.com its a steal. My race detail for the Turkey Chase 10k is available at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=7209947
I arrived pretty early, around 7ish. The race doesn’t start until 8:30AM. It was FREEZING. I went to pickup my packet and went back out to the car to put on my bib and time chip. After a while I realize the weather wasn’t gonna let up so I walked out to the tents and faced it head on. Well that and I saw that there was a Starbuck tent offering free coffee and hot chocolate. I checked out all the booths and got myself a nice Tshirt from City Sports for spinning their prize wheels. The others that went before me spinned and landed on the dreaded “pen” spot. Determined to win something better I summoned my prize wheel luck and got the shirt. I was pretty happy with myself 
Its not really a race if I didn’t have doubts or thoughts of quitting and why oh why for the love of god am i putting myself through this never ending torture when I could be home sleeping ? That epiphany came around mile 3, prior to that I was cruising at 8 minutes mile, thinking I got this 10k down to a science. However, what I think and reality are usually at odds with each other. I slowed down to an 8:45 – 8:50 pace. By this time a lot of people have passed me. I made a deal with myself that I would not go under an 9 minute pace. I mustered all I could and managed to finish strong, sprinting for the last half mile. In my defense it was freaking cold, and in my infinite wisdom I decided not to wear my gloves. For the first 20 minutes I couldn’t even feel my hands.
My last 10k was in April of 2008. (Darcars Pike Peeks 10K) My net time was 57:09 with a pace of 9:12.
Today I ran 10k in 54:26 at 8:46 pace. A 2:43 improvement. My current goal is to run 10k in under 50 minutes.
Not quite there yet. Gotta keep training.
Turkey Chase 10K
Its me !
Filed under: I have a love hate relationship with things, Running , Turkey Chase 10k, YMCA Bethesda Turkey Chase 10K, garmin forerunner 305
They like me, they really like me