VA 10 Miler Recap! Holy Crap – I actually did it!!!!
Mile 1 – 13:17
Mile 2 - 14:59
Mile 3 – 15:36
Mile 4- 15:41
Mile 5 – 15:25
Mile 6 – 16:27
Mile 7 – 16:09
Mile 8 – 16:15
Mile 9 – 15:20
Mile 10 – 18:30
Official Chip Time – 2:43:37
So I actually held myself together Friday night(mostly)! We did packet pickup and stopped at the running store for race day nutrition. Then we headed to Olive Garden with friends for some good ole carb loading (I don’t really believe in carb loading – but hey any excuse for Olive Garden). I kept myself pretty distracted until 10pm when I was trying to sleep. I think I finally fell asleep around 2am thanks to the “Sleep with me” podcast.
5:15am! Alarm sounds and I hop out of bed and started the music. Got dressed and ready to go! I had a breakfast bar and a PSL from starbucks. We got to the race at 6:30am. They have little tents set up so we just walked around drank our coffee and enjoyed the atmosphere!
7:30am- They start lining us up! There aren’t corals; however, there are volunteers holding pace cards and you line up by pace. Once I was all settled in my spot, I had a honey stinger stroop waffle and started crying! My husband was with me because he was running the 4 miler. The national anthem was sung and the air horn sounded, and we were off!
Mile 1 – I started jogging at a pretty easy pace! First thought in my head was “on no my foot already hurts! I’m not going to make it.” 2nd thought “Nope! Not allowed to think negative thoughts till mile 3.” I don’t remember when the “pain” (turns out I just needed to warm up) but I think it was pretty quickly after that. Strava dung in my ear to tell me that mile 1 was done in 13:17. I was running easy and I felt great! My husband caught up to me a this point and we stayed together for a couple mins.
Mile 2 – the first half of this mile was down hill so I kept up the pace. I ran when it told me to run and walked when it told me to walk. I felt great and for the first time in 3 years I though.. “I think I’m actually going to finish this thing!” When the hill started I was running. It was hard and I was going SLOW! When it was time to walk I noticed I was going faster. So I walked up the hill. No shame in my game. I looked around and the more experienced looking runners were walking too. There were a couple parts of the hill were it was flat or when it went slightly down hill – when it came to those parts, I ran. I know it’s not typically a good idea to adjust to plan on the fly but it was working!
Mile 3 – I had just heard the update from strava telling me that my last mile was under 15 mins. I thought “WOW! I’m killing it! I’m actually going to finish this!!” when the road was flat long enough to stick to my intervals I stuck to them. But it was quite hilly so for the most part, I ran when it was flat and down hill and walked up all the hills. At the end of mile 3 I took my GU. The plan was to take a GU at miles 3, 6 and 8. So I squeezed the first one into my mouth and as I was trying to open my water bottle I started gagging a little. I managed to swallow most of it, but I did spit up a little of the GU and got it all over my hand. Grossest feeling ever. So I ended up dumping a little water on my hands and got the gel off. Sticky hands for the rest of the race, but nothing crazy.
Mile 4- It was pretty uneventful until the end. My husband caught up to me again and we stayed together until he pealed off for his finish line. Before he pealed away I joked that I was about to be lonely because I was the only 10 miler in the pack. Everyone around me was wearing a 4 miler bib. But then an older gentleman turned around an pointed to his bib.. 10 miler! I caught up to him and said “you’re my buddy!”
Miles 5, 6 and 7. My buddy, Anthony, and I stuck together. I got to hear about his son and how he was going to finish in under an hour. He was an electrical designer for the same college my husband works at (my husband is also an electrical designer). Talked about his stage 5 kidney failure (he’s fine now btw – I got to hear the details of his surgery), the blood in his pee, how he doesn’t trust doctors. He told me about how all the 4 miler participants were pansies and how I should stop being friends with my non runner friends because they are holding me back.. Okay.. It wasn’t that bad! Yes he talked about all of those things, but he was a sweet guy and he kept me company and distracted. Also, miles 5 and 7 were pretty flat and the sun was beating down on us so it was a welcome distraction.
Mile 8 – So at this point Anthony ran ahead of me and I was starting to fade. It was time to take my last GU but I was out of water there was a water table at the start of mile 8 but I had forgot that I needed to take my GU. The roads were opening the roads at 10:30. It was like 10am.. I’m running down hill and I’m thinking “I’m going to beet the cut off!!!!”
Mile 8.5 – Pace care shows up… “M’am, Can you move to the sidewalk?” Me looking at my watch “Oh No! I thought I had 20 more mins!” Cop- “ We have to clear the course a little before we re-open the roads.” Me (blinking back immediate tears) “Yes sir, Okay!” Cop clearly not buying my forced positivity “Sorry! You’re doing great!!!” I moved to the sidewalk and I ran for another mile. I was hot. I was tired. I hit the wall. I was out of water and I was swept to the sidewalk. I did manage to catch Anthony again. He was mad about the side walk think and I was trying not to think about it so I just let him go ahead of me.
Mile 9 -10 – I walked. I never found it in me to start running again. I was trying to put a positive spin on it and dig deep, but I started passing people going in the opposite direction. They were wearing their medals and caring their finish blanket in hand. The volunteers were packing up and the bands weren’t playing. Even when I passed the volunteers they would kind of cheer for me but you could tell they weren’t quite sure if I was still running the race or if I was just walking around. Josh was tracking me live on Strava. He saw that the roads were open and he saw that I slowed down, so he started walking towards me and he met me just after 9.5! I was sooo happy to see him and I said “Are they still giving out medals?!” He said “I think so! The road is still closed in front of the finish line and Edie and them (friends from work who also participated) are waiting for you too! I was so happy to hear that I got to get off the sidewalk soon and I picked up the pace (still walking but with a pep in my step). We make it to the part of the road that was still gated off and people were still there and they were cheering and I could see the finish up ahead! I started running! And then I couldn’t any more so I walked for a bit. As I got closer I did start running with every thing in me and I burst into tears at the finish line! I can’t believe I finished! I feel like I got hit by a truck and it was the hardest run to date, but I finished and I’m so happy!
I felt great until I didn’t and I’m honestly so happy with how well the first 8 miles went! I’m also very pleased with how tired I was at the end of the race and the rest of the day. I really did leave it all on the course. I gave it my best and I showed up for myself! I haven’t been showing up for myself as much as I should recently, but I did Saturday.
Take Aways –
I’m capable of anything I set my mind to!
I should have taken the last GU.
I should have stuck to the training plan a little better.
If I’m up against a time limit I need to do a little more research about what happens towards the end of the time. If I had known that I was going to get moved to the sidewalk before the 2.5 hour time line, I could have mentally pre-pared for that and maybe it wouldn’t have crushed my spirit right when I needed it the most.
VA 10 Miler = Best Race Event EVER!!
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Me and my buddy Tony!
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