A quick recap of an exciting and surprising weekend.

Some of my most favorite things in the world are, (in no particular order) running, dogs, cemeteries (and other ghostly places and things) and eating/drinking local DC things. May 7th combined all the things into one glorious morning with Congressional Cemetery’s Day of the Dog.

Congressional Cemetery sits spookily in DC’s SE corner and is one of my favorite place in the city. Beside my love for all things after-lifey and creepy (I blame being a Halloween baby) CC has become this rallying place for the community, with volunteers taking care of its upkeep and organizing great fundraisers and programing. They do movie nights, ghost and history tours, grow their own honey (Rest in Bees – so cute) and they host DC dogs!

Day of the Dog started with a 5k for humans and canines, followed by games  for the pups (bobbing for hotdogs, ball-oney pit, an agility course [at which my dog did not excel]) and food trucks and stalls for the peoples. I had signed myself, Scott, and Birkin (our giant dire wolf) up to run. When I registered I looked at last year’s run times and saw that the winning woman had pulled down a 22:something. I’ve always been a terrible sprinter, but on my best days I can turn in a 22 minute 5k, so that planted this seed of, maybe I can win.

It seemed perhaps too optimistic, but I’ve been working on having different paces for different distances (like most normal [effective] runners), and this seemed like an opportunity to put that work to the test. When I started training with a coach a couple months ago, one of my first run run work-outs broke up intervals by 13.1, 10k and 5k pace. I responded to my coach that all of those things were the same pace so basically to me that looked like 45 minutes at 7:45/mile. But, using Jack Daniels’ VDOT run chart (thanks Kim/@TrackClubBabe!), track work, and shorter intervals and higher speeds, I’ve been introducing paces adjusted for distance into my repertoire. On May 7th I put it to the test with CC’s Day of the Dog 5k.

It was four weeks out from Mountains to Beach marathon, so I did 7 miles before, including some push miles. I arranged those miles around the Mall and then to the Cemetery, while Scott drove there with Birkin. Scott was kind enough to run with Birk as well, letting me do my thing sans 90 lbs of dead weight. (Birkin is really not a runner.)

Scott was running late so I lined up at the last minute with friends. They actually joined the center of the crowd already at the start line, while I invited myself to the front of the pack. (With 112 runners, and 3.1 miles, this was obviously not a corral situation. [Kinda like Cherry Blossom 10! #stillmad])

The gun went off about 15 seconds after I’d gotten to the start and we took off. Because I have no actual 5k experience (I’d actually never done one that wasn’t part of a sprint triathlon) my strategy was to just go out as fast as I fucking could and run the three miles at an RPE that felt just slightly shy of death.

And it worked! (However this positive outcome should not encourage anyone else ever to ever employ my “strategic” masochism.)

We hoofed it out of the Cemetery and I got to the first of two switchbacks around .5 miles which gave me  an opportunity to survey the immediate competition. And it was all dudes! (And one of the fastest dogs ever! [Also a dude.]) I was at least 50 yards ahead of the nearest ladies. I was encouraged but knew I was only 1/6 of the way there and I had to keep pushing to the point of want-to-die to defend my lead.

At the first mile marker I was at 6:43/mile. Not my fastest mile ever but pretty close to my mile max. I knew I couldn’t keep that pace up the whole way in, I just dug in and held on as long as I could. Around 1.8 miles, the weeks of rain intervened with a washed out sidewalk. Given the choice between ankle deep water or running into the thigh-high* grass on the sides of the path, everyone opted for a stomp through the vegetation. This little cross country obstacle popped up a few feet before the second switchback, which meant we got to encounter it twice.

*For normal-sized people the grass may have been knee-or-less-high. 

The muddy, grassy diversion slowed everyone down a touch (but without providing a reprieve to the RPE or heart rate deathiness) and was a little scary because we couldn’t see what our footing looked like in the grass. I was afraid I would roll my ankle or fall, but I made it through both water elements and carried on. That second mile I clocked in  around 7:01/mile, which was a little disappointing. Without having to slow down through the grass I would have turned in two consecutive miles in the 6s, which would have been a coup for me. (Remember: NOT a  sprinter.)

At that second mile marker, I could see that one of the women had closed the 50 yard gap a little, though she was still a decent way back. I still felt pretty safe but became a little nervous that I’d lose my lead in the last mile. Especially because my bullheaded run-till-you-die strategy was really starting to wear me out.

I was encouraged to keep fighting by some great volunteers helping us stay on course and manning the aid station (which we hit twice thanks to switchback city.) They gave me extra love shouting, “first woman!” My fellow females especially yelled for me and boosted my confidence. (Ooh, and more woman-power, I had put Beyonce’s Daddy Lessons [Lemonade. All hail.] on repeat and it’s hard not to sprint through that jam.)

I kept pushing as hard as I could, and within a few minutes (which obviously felt much longer) I was turning onto the final stretch back into the Cemetery grounds. At this point the couple guys who finished before me were well ahead, and some others had fallen back, so I was running by myself. Running into the Cemetery was another good vantage to see whether the runner lady in second was gaining on me. She was nowhere in sight, so as I came around the final turn and could see the finish line, I let myself off the near-death hook a bit, which I now regret.

I crossed the finish line as the first woman in at 22:04. My third mile had dropped off to 7:14. If we hadn’t had that water obstacle (twice) and/or if I hadn’t let myself slow in the final stretch I could have turned in my first 5k under 22 minutes, hence a little regret at not pushing all the way to the end.

But I did win! And I’ve always considered myself such a crap runner of shorter distances, so after all the work put in the last few months, this felt awesome.

Most days training is thankless. It’s early mornings and late nights alone in the pool or on the bike or the track. Lots of workouts can be disappointing and frustrating, and all you want sometimes is to go with your friends to happy hour or brunch instead of to the gym. Those days that you can actually see the results of all of those early mornings and late nights are so exciting. Concrete evidence of progress in the form of a win (and a gift certificate to a local brewery!) becomes the fuel for the next few weeks of grinding it out.

I fully acknowledge that this was a tiny and not very competitive 5k, and that 22:04 wouldn’t translate to a win in most races, but now it has me wondering if I can sustain that speed in a sprint tri. And speaking of which, my first real podium came last year during the Giant Acorn sprint, where I took home 3rd in my age group and won the run. Maybe the shorter distances are actually more my strength than I thought. (Maybe [more likely] it’s just luck of the competition pool.)

My friends, Arianna and Jeff (and their awesomely wiggly lab, Truman) finished about 3 minutes later, followed by Scott and Birkin a few minutes after that. Some of the folks running with their four legged best friends were clearly helped along by their dogs’ exuberance, but Scott was way handicapped by our furry guy. (So furry, oh my god.) Scott basically did those 3.1 miles with a 90 pound, very distractible anvil at the end the leash.

When I saw my guys coming down the final straightaway I began yelling for Birkin. He heard my voice and visibly perked up, but unfortunately he couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from. He started serpentining around Scott, looking for his mama. Arianna and Jeff joined me in calling him in and he got the hint finally heading straight for the finish line. Man oh man he looked adorable running it in!

I’m not sure how a 5k victory will translate to my marathon at the end of the month, but I enjoyed the hell out of that morning. The run, the win, the dogs, the friends, the food trucks, the pause in the constant rain, the amazing Congressional Cemetery. The whole dang thing. Now back to work!