Monument 10k Race Report

Here's the Bean, me, and Masha in the parking lot prior to the event. I left my camera in the car b/c I didn't want to carry it during the race or walk back to the car, so it's my only photo. We parked at the Jefferson to have access to luxury bathrooms pre- and post-race. An excellent strategy!

We met a group of TriGirls at the Cathedral prior to the race, so as more photos are available, I'll post them. We had a big group of women sporting the pink! It is so fun to be running and have total strangers yell "Go TriGirl!"

The event started at 8:30, and we were hustling over to the start line at 8:27 - but never to fear; our group - F - was back aways and didn't start until something like 8:45. We met up with TriGirl Jennifer in our group and chatted as we inched forward. We were joking that F meant Fast. The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" blasted through the speakers along with an extremely jovial announcer - I want some of whatever he's on! Then it was our turn. We did the slow shuffle across the timing mats, I hit the starter on my Garmin, and we were off.

The Bean took off like a shot. I saw her little ponytail bouncing way up in the distance. Then Masha took off. I kept to my race strategy of going out slowly so I wouldn't exhaust myself early. It's not worth it to me to fight through the crowds. Plus, Jennifer and I needed to hit the first set of porto-potties! Lovely things that they were.

It was at that point, as I went to stop the timer on my Garmin, that I realized it had never started. I know I pushed the button, but perhaps I just acknowledged a low signal or something? I don't know. All I know is that I only tracked 4.9 miles of the event. Damn user error. Sigh. On the bright side, I had a good run without worrying about or having any ability to track my time because I didn't know how far into the race I was when I started timing. Oh well!

I caught up with the Bean. She was a little tired after her fast start! I also saw Mark at the TriGirl cheering section near the half way point and gratefully dropped off the sweatshirt that had been tied around my waist and which was starting to annoy me. Thanks, Mark! I never did see Annnnn's husband. I so wanted to shout, "Ann totally rocks!" as she'd instructed. And she does.

Then I traded spots with Masha through a water station. The crowds and bands were really great, especially for the last two miles. I love Richmond's friendly race supporters!

I crossed the finish line at 1:12 or so clock/start time so I estimated my time to be in the 57 - 58 minute range. I have to say I was quite a bit disappointed. My realistic goal was 55 and my dream goal 52. Yikes!

The Bean crossed shortly after me but we didn't see Masha for awhile. We did see a growing group of TriGirls. Congratulations to Kate T for her 52 minute time!!!! ... breaking her previous year's time by a whopping 22 minutes! She is going to be smiling until Tuesday at least.

We hung around and chatted, and the Bean introduced me to two TriGirls who have kids at our kids' school. She knows everyone! The Bean, I have to say, felt like a minor celebrity because some people recognized her from my blog. She doesn't read it, so I teased her a little about what I may or may not have said about her... ha!

We were supposed to meet a group of TriGirls at Bandito's but big loser that I am, I couldn't remember where it was. We drove around a bit, called information who said they had no listing, and even asked some pedestrians to no avail. Finally, after joking about how well we used to know that area 20 years ago, we headed back to our west end enclave and had lunch at California Tortilla. I think it was tasty, but I admit that I would have happily eaten pretty much anything at that point.

Once I got home, I checked my unofficial chip time online and was pleased to see it as 54:14. Better than I thought! Cool! And I'm within 46 seconds of my pre-race estimate for the TriGirl teams. Yes!

All in all, another good year at the Monument 10k.