Another PR!!!!
Pre-race goal: Run under 1:30!
I was happy that Matt was able to come and cheer me on. What a cheerleader, taking time out of his day to stand around during a 10 mile race and to brave the cold weather!! My friend GM also ran this race, so that was exciting!!
When the race first started I thought that I was going to be in for a long one. I felt terrible. I don't know if it was an inadequate warmup or what, but approaching mile 3 I didn't feel my spunky self. It could also be because mile 3 brought a tremendous uphill climb. I remember looking ahead and seeing runners in front of me climbing the hill. Did I mention I hate running hills?? After that huge uphill, there was a flat stretch for awhile, only to bring on another uphill. But what do they say? What goes up, must come down....
After mile 4 I found myself running on a huge downhill! I felt like I was running down a mountain. This downhill went on forever!! I am always one to try and gain speed going downhill, but not on this one! I was bracing myself! It was that steep! I guess that was a good training run for Steamtown in the fall! I heard the first 9 miles of that marathon are all downhill!
After that downhill the course leveled off again and mile 5 was a turn around. 43:15, 8:39 pace at the 5 mile marker. I drank some water and took another gel. Despite how terrible I felt in the first few miles, I knew I was doing well. I knew that I had to keep up that intensity to reach my pre-race goal.
Mile 8 rolls around and I'm feeling great! The fact that I felt great at this point was surprising. Around mile 7 or 8 I usually start to crack. Mentally I have to push myself through these last few miles. At least I did in the last 10 mile race. But this time I was good. At this point, I looked down at my garmin and I see that I'm still running under 9 minute miles!
At the last mile I looked at my garmin again. Still right on track, but I knew that I had to maintain my intensity in order to finish under 1:30. I round the corner to the finish, kick a little, gave it all I had left, and what happened? 1:28.16!!
I dropped 2 minutes from the last 10 miler, and was able to hold under 9 minute miles!
This race really boosted my confidence. The Lehigh Valley Half Marathon is 4 weeks away. This will be my first half marathon. I have set a reasonable goal for myself, but one that will take work to accomplish. I plan to run this half in under 2 hours. That is under a 9 minute pace for 13.1 miles. But I look back at what I just did in this 10 miler and I know that I shouldn't have a problem running that. What's another 3.1??
