Monument Avenue 10K... My first Race

Every year here in Richmond there is a huge 10K race called Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K that goes right through VCU's campus! It grows each year--this year there were over 40,000 people that registered. My friend Melissa from Crew and I decided to run it back in December, so we registered back then. After that, a bunch more people from the team registered, too.

When I decided to register for the race, I really hadn't been running very much. About two or three miles was the most I had ever really run at one time, so I registered for the slowest "Joggers" wave, with a projected finish between 66 and 70 minutes. From December when I registered to today, I did a lot more running, and so when I started the 10K this morning my goal was to at least be under 60 minutes, and finish hopefully at about 52 minutes.


People have been preparing for the 10K all week, and it was exciting to see all the tents being set up in Monroe Park and the roads being blocked off last night. Thursday afternoon my friend Kavya and I went to pick up our race packets. We got our bib numbers, t-shirts, and a bunch of other random free stuff they put in goodie bags for the runners. So this whole week was definitely building up to the race! This morning I woke up about 7:30 and opened my windows to see people buzzing around getting excited for the race. They had a little one mile run for kids at 8:00, and then the 10K started with the first wave at 8:30. My wave started on broad street at 9:28, and I started with 4 other people--Khiem, Kavya, Melissa, and Abby.

The finish line

When the race started, we were going pretty slow because there were just so many people, it was hard to weave in and out of everyone and get past the huge clump at the start. However, once we got started, Khiem and I ended up running at the same pace, so we ran together at the front of the group. I'm glad our paces were about the same, because it was definitely good having someone there to push me a little bit! All throughout the course there were so many people supporting the runners and walkers and various bands every few blocks playing music. Probably one of my favorite parts of the race was just seeing everyone supporting complete strangers and just having a really good time.

After 6.2 miles, Khiem and I crossed the finish line. I finished the race in 52:54, and met my goal, so I was pretty pleased. It's officially the farthest I've run at one time, so I was pretty happy about that, too. After you finished, they had food (bananas, rolls, and waters for runners), various vendors, music, etc all throughout the park. I ran back to my dorm and grabbed my camera, and on my way I saw Kavya come through the finish like at 59:48!

All the water bottles after the race

I'm so glad I ran the 10K today, and it was the first official "race" I've ever done. I'll do it every year, most likely, so hopefully I'll be able to improve each time. The next race I want to do, however, is a Mud Race, and they look like absolutely so much fun. The girls and Mom and I are also (hopefully) running a 5K in DC called The Color Run, which looks like a lot of fun, too.

Me and Kavya!

Me, Khiem, and Kavya! So glad to have awesome people to run with!

On the finisher's platform :)

My results:
5K split: 26:46
10K race time: 52:54
Average Pace per Mile: 8:32
Overall place: 5351
Division (Women ages 15-19) place:112
Gender place: 1444