March 14, 2010 (Updated November 29, 2022)

St. Patty’s Day 8k SUCCESS!

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

24 comments

The St. Patty’s Day 8k (5 miler) this morning was quite the success!

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It’s a rainy, gross day here in D.C., but thankfully the rain held off during the race. My friend Ashley and I arrived bright and early (EXTRA early thanks to daylight savings… argh) to pick up our bibs, t-shirts, and make sure we had time to wait in line for the portapotties 😉 Nothing worse than arriving late and stressed to a race!

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The race was held downtown near the Capital. Pretty!

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There was also randomly a DJ trying to make people dance at 8 in the morning. It was a little awkward.

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After watching people do the Macarena (will that song ever go away??), we headed to the starting line, and then… disaster struck:

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GAHHHHHHHHHHH Why wouldn’t my Garmin turn on??? 🙁 I’ve had you for 4 years, Mr. Garmin, don’t die on me now!! So sadly we had to race time and pace-less. It’s turning on again now, of course. But still won’t charge?? Wtf.

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And so, watch-less, we were off!

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Doing races as part of a training plan are great because you run so much faster than you normally would. Once we got moving we were able to maintain what felt like a good pace. My legs were feeling a bit stiff and heavy but the clouds and cool air actually made for good (if not pretty) running weather.

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Though I knew we were keeping a good pace (yay adrenaline!), we had no idea how fast we were actually going without a watch! So you can imagine my surprise when we reached the finish line and I saw 41 minutes on the clock! OMG! You better believe I ended in a full out sprint. Especially since I knew that meant our gun time might be under 41 minutes!

Our final gun time was 40:50, which is an 8:13 min/mile pace!!! WOOHOOO! A new PR! My old 5 mile race PR was 42:57, which we clearly blew out of the water!

I’m proud of us 🙂

Time to relax… I met a friend for brunch after the race and now I’m SO exhausted. I think a nap might be in order before I can even attempt to get any work done 😉

- anne

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24 comments
  • way to go on the new PR...that's a great pace! glad you ladies had fun...get some well-deserved rest :)
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  • Wow! Great run and great time. There's nothing like adrenaline to help bring down your times. And, you're right about using races as training runs. They're a great help to any training plan. Again, well done!
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  • That's AWESOME! I'm looking for a dew races to do during my marathon training because like you said - you run faster than you normally would!
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  • Awesome run! My Garmin died the other day and I was so lonely without it's friendly chirp. Congrats on a PR!
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  • I don't pace myself. I start off fast and then gradually slow down towards the end as body organs begin to fail. It results in my fastest times. In the movie Gattaca Ethan Hawke says "I don't save any for the way back!" That's my strategy. If I can sprint at the end then I didn't push hard enough.
    Lol you are way more hardcore than me. I generally try to go as hard as I can go while still maintaining a steady pace. I like to still have a little left over for a sprint at the end, because that's my favorite part :) -Anne
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  • Nice job on the race! Great per-mile pace. I ran a 5-mile race yesterday and came in at 42:38. I was kind of disappointed with my time but the course was SO PACKED I couldn't get around people. Maybe I would have finished in 41 minutes otherwise? Don't know. Good luck with your training!
    Ugh I HATE that! The Army Ten Miler was like that, too. The whole time we were pushing past people. So annoying! This race was nice because it was a lot smaller :) That's still an awesome time though, congrats! -Anne
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  • Ahhhh! I want to be as fast as Anne P.!! ;) P.S. I have an 8-miler on the plan for Friday..only I'm not so fast, so maybe I will have to make that 6 or something. ;) You would lap me I'm sure.
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  • Wow, I want to be fast like you one do---great job!! I would have love to see people's reactions to the dj trying to get them to dance at 8A lol
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  • wow, great race! i miss DC!! is your garmin working now? if not, i am sure you know this, but the garmin website has all sorts of different troubleshooting tips for the different models. i have the same one you do and i had a few glitches with it and the website led me through which buttons to press for my model.
    Ooo thanks for the tip! I'll check that out :) It turns on again now, but I can't get it to charge. Weird. -Anne
    Reply
  • Awesome job at the 8K! A coworker of mine ran in that race too. I have too many other events coming up so I didn't want to dish out the cash to run this race too (and come into DC on the weekend). Glad the rain held off during the race!
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  • Congrats!!! Since buying my first HR watch I am silly attached to it. I would have felt naked!
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  • That's amazing! Congratulations! I too ran in the rain this weekend--but not that quickly!
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  • What an AWESOME race!!! It sounds amazing girl! :) Congrats on such a wonderful race Anne.
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  • Yayy!! Congratulations on a new record!! I have never run a race before, but seeing this wonderful recap and how fun it was is truly inspiring me!! :) Thank you Anne!!
    Yay! Races are so much fun :) Give one a try! -Anne
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  • Great job on the race! :D Have you tried resetting your Garmin? Mine has done that twice now and resetting it helps. I don't have it with me now, but next time it won't turn on, hold the bottom left button at the same time with the front left button for a few seconds. see if it works for you!
    Ooo thanks for the tip! I'll try that :) -Anne
    Reply