Black Cat 10 miler

considering the crushing fatigue i experienced at the beginning of the week, i didn't expect to run this race, let alone do well in it. i went into the race without having been physically active in a week. that's not so much an unintended taper as it is a coma.

saturday morning rolled around and i felt fine. my internal mommy alarm clock woke me up 10 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, which was AWESOME because my stupid iPhone died during the night. it may have died during the night because a certain someone (perhaps me) left the maps app open with GPS on. oops.

despite the technology failure, i managed to be up, fed, dressed, coffee-d, and on my way to Salem by 6:30am. Salem is about 40 minutes away, and the race was set to start at 8am. one of my favorite things about the race was the 'e-race packet.' they sent you all the info you needed, plus online coupons instead of paper ones. it made actual packet pick up on race day so much easier because you just had to pick up your race bib--no paper crap to schlep back to the car. all that basically means i didn't have to leave as early as i otherwise would have--i am one of those crazy people whose nerves require them to be one of the first people to the race...you never know what could happen!

another thing i really appreciated about the race was the availability of INDOOR restrooms. granted, they had plenty of porto-potties at the race, but they were outside, and it was 28 degrees. i don't know about y'all, but even with my pooping propensity i absolutely cannot poop outside when it is that cold.

there were lots of super fast-looking runners out there, and i found out during the race that it is a tune-up/prep for Boston Marathon. needless to say, i only saw those runners as they passed me on the out and back. i'm always amazed by them; they make it look so easy.

i didn't plan much for this race, mostly because i wasn't even sure if i was going to be able to do it. the last time i ran a 10 miler i did it in 1:40 on a super hilly course in ATX. since this course was supposed to have gentle rollers with only one big hill, i unscientifically determined i should be able to do it in 1:36. i also decided i should negative split the run (which is hilarious to me now, thinking back on it, seeing how i have never negative split anything ever in my life.)

welp. i ran it in 1:36:47, and i negative split the dern thing. it took all of my mental effort to go SLOW at the beginning and not get caught up with all of the crazy marathoners. i held 9:45-9:48 min/mile for the first 4 miles, even considering the big hill going into Marblehead. miles 4-5 were mostly downhill, so i sped up a bit to 9:30. i tried really hard not to blast down the incline and murder my quads...i was glad of this shortly thereafter when i hit the turnaround and had to go back UP that incline. it took some strong mental words with myself to keep the 9:30-9:35 pace up the rollers back into Salem. i probably would have come in a little earlier than 1:36 if i hadn't shared one of my GU's on course around mile 5--i felt pretty bonky and in need of kcals around mile 8.5 and dropped my pace a bit back into the 9:40s. but once i hit mile 9 the mental joy of almost being done gave me an extra kick and i ran the last mile in 9:10.

my new shoes seemed to have helped the hip problem, as i didn't have any big aches, pains or twinges during or after the race. all in all, i am more than happy with this race outcome. oh, the value of low expectations! i kid, i kid. i had a lot of fun running and trying to picture myself being smart, even, and running my own race at Louisville. every time someone passed me (which was almost everyone. even a 200lb girl my height...she was booking it. nice work, sister!) i would give myself a little peptalk about running my own race, and then settle back into my rhythm. it was great mental and physical training for IMLou.

i had such a good time, i'm almost sad i don't race again until May (NE Season Opener Sprint.) i'm sure coach will keep my busy... i just got my March training plan and BOYHOWDY i can already tell some of those workouts are going to kick my bootay! bring it!