The day before the race I went to Luke's to pick up my packet and I bought new running shoes. I've known for a few weeks that I needed a new pair because I had started feeling a shin splint on my left leg. Shin splints for me are a new shoe signal. Also, my last pair was from January, which makes me guess they had over 500 miles on them. Which is dumb because I know better, and I try to aim for every 3-6 months no matter how much or little I'm running. 10 months on a replacement pair is stupid. So I got a pair of Glycerin 9's, and I decided to wear them to the race, even though they were new, because I didn't want to make the shin splints worse by running 10 miles in the worn out shoes. And I felt pretty stupid for putting myself in the worst situation - trying new shoes on race day, idiot.
This conversation happened the night before the race:
P: How far is your race tomorrow, 5K?
Me: No, 10 miles.
P: Holy shit, you are fucked!
Me: Thanks for the vote of confidence.
P: Sorry, it is just so FAR!
Me: You realize I've fun 16 miles farther than that before, right?
The morning of the race we were able to wake up a little later than we had been for recent races. That's one of the reasons I love this race: it is close to home. (And it has hella great swag.) I pounded down some coffee and a Snickers Marathon bar. As we were driving to the race, I realized that it was so close to home that P and Z could actually go home if they didn't want to hang out, so I had them drop me off at the entrance to Market Street and off they went. I found a wall to sit on and read my book (Kindle app on iPhone) until a few minutes before the start.
Another reason I love this race is that it is so well organized. They had pace signs up, so I went and got behind the 10 minute mile sign, totally knowing that I wouldn't be going for any PRs. This was my first 10 mile run of the season and I was treating it as a supported long training run. The gun went off and 2 minutes later I was across the starting line.
Oh, one more thing to add: it was hot, probably 75, and humid. Bad conditions all around.
Early on in the race, I noticed that I was getting passed by an interesting cast of characters.
Mile 1: a one-armed man.
Mile 2: dude pushing a DOUBLE Bob. (On a TEN MILE RUN. Dude is a beast.)
Mile 3: an 8 year old.
Mile 4: a 70+ year old. (Not that you'd know it, looking at him, until you saw the back of his neck. Funny give away!)
Mile 5: a race walker with a 4 foot "swing span". (Seriously, y'all. Dude was a menace.)
Then in mile 6 I made the kind of pass you never want to make: runner down. I didn't stop to help because she was already being helped and I knew I couldn't do anything that wasn't already being done. Soon after I heard the ambulance sirens. I truly hope she was ok. And after that I became determined in my quest to enjoy my run despite the pain I knew I'd feel by the end... because I was still running.
And so I did.
Ironically, mile 6-7 was the best mile of the whole race for me. I took a Ginseng Honey Stinger gel at the mile 4 aid station and I think it kicked in right around 6, where I just felt like I was chugging along and I could go forever.
Speaking of nutrition, I did much better this race. I took Gatorade at mile 2, gel at 4 and 8, an orange at 6, and water at 4, 6, 8, and 9. I had no GI/nausea issues!
And speaking of aid stations, I was running a 9/1, plus walking aid stations until about 8 miles in when I switched to walking the aid station plus about halfway between (which I think came out at about a 5/1). It worked well for me.
I was tired by the end, and glad to be done, but I actually felt better than I did after my 8 miler in Galveston the weekend before, so there's that!
Final time: 1:52:10.4 for 11:27 a mile. And a medal. :-)
And then we headed off to work on AD's house, but that's a whole 'nother post.
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