Sunday was the 1st 10 miler of the MRTC Road Race Series.
I love running all of the races in this series but the 10 milers are my favorite by far. They are actually harder than the half marathons. The half marathon course is almost completely flat. It goes from one end of Singleton Parkway to the other and then back. Very flat and very boring. The ten mile course is the exact opposite. It is in Shelby Forest and has a bunch of hills, both up and down. It is all road except for some pathways that are mostly paved.
I love this course because it is so challenging. There are a few uphills that are extremely steep. Which also make for some extremely steep downhills. And then there are the infamous "switchbacks". Ask anyone who has run this race before about the "switchbacks" and they will most likely cringe. They are located shortly after mile 9. Yes you read that correctly, MILE 9.
Once you pass the 9 mile marker you are met with what looks like a steady incline. Then all of the sudden the path starts to go straight up almost like a spiral staircase. At least that is what it feels like. You take a few steps left then it goes up. You take a few steps right then it goes up. And on and on for what feels like an eternity. It might be about 50 yards from top to bottom. That is just a guess by someone with really bad depth perception.
Once you clear that you have about a half mile to go. It usually takes a little while to get your legs back under you once you get back on the road. And then you try to put as much as you have left into your finish.
The race went pretty well. I had a foot issue earlier in the week. A few people thought it might be a stress fracture. I rested it all week by doing some of my workouts in the pool. That helped a ton. I wasn't sure how it would feel because the last time I had run on it was Tuesday and that was pretty painful.
I started out really well. My goal was to see how the foot felt and then decide what pace I wanted to run. It felt so good that I passed the one mile marker at 7:38. I decided I needed to dial it down a bit and try to aim for 8:00 to 8:30 pace the rest of the way. I wanted 8:00 but with the hills upcoming and the lack of my feet hitting pavement all week I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Just so you know how well I know my pace, I finished mile 2 at 15:40. That is 8:02 for mile 2. Which was my plan. Yes, I like to brag.
The rest of the race until mile 8 felt good except for the fact that I really had to go potty. We were in the woods but I didn't just want to stop and run out in the trees and go. I really didn't want to get poison ivy either. At mile 8 there was a porta-potty so I stopped. It cost me time but I felt much better those last two miles.
As I mentioned earlier the "switchbacks" are at mile 9. I made it almost to the top and had to walk the last few steps. They seemed worse than the last time I ran this series.
Once I got back onto the road I gathered my legs and gave a good kick to finish strong. As I was coming up on the finish line a guy started to pass me. In case you haven't read it I Finish Strong. At that point in the race I feel like I can't be beat. We both started to push it a little harder and it was on! There was a woman in front of us and we raced around her, him to the left of her and me to the right. Then I pulled away and nearly ran over a guy at the finish line. That always makes a race fun when I can have a strong finish like that with some competition.
Overall I felt pretty good afterwards. I am hoping my foot issue isn't serious. I did enjoy the water workouts so I will keep doing those. So what could have been a bad week ended up being a pretty good one. I could have gotten down because of my foot but my friends at the YMCA just found ways for me to keep training without making it worse. What an awesome way to finish off an inspiring week!
I love running all of the races in this series but the 10 milers are my favorite by far. They are actually harder than the half marathons. The half marathon course is almost completely flat. It goes from one end of Singleton Parkway to the other and then back. Very flat and very boring. The ten mile course is the exact opposite. It is in Shelby Forest and has a bunch of hills, both up and down. It is all road except for some pathways that are mostly paved.
I love this course because it is so challenging. There are a few uphills that are extremely steep. Which also make for some extremely steep downhills. And then there are the infamous "switchbacks". Ask anyone who has run this race before about the "switchbacks" and they will most likely cringe. They are located shortly after mile 9. Yes you read that correctly, MILE 9.
Once you pass the 9 mile marker you are met with what looks like a steady incline. Then all of the sudden the path starts to go straight up almost like a spiral staircase. At least that is what it feels like. You take a few steps left then it goes up. You take a few steps right then it goes up. And on and on for what feels like an eternity. It might be about 50 yards from top to bottom. That is just a guess by someone with really bad depth perception.
Once you clear that you have about a half mile to go. It usually takes a little while to get your legs back under you once you get back on the road. And then you try to put as much as you have left into your finish.
The race went pretty well. I had a foot issue earlier in the week. A few people thought it might be a stress fracture. I rested it all week by doing some of my workouts in the pool. That helped a ton. I wasn't sure how it would feel because the last time I had run on it was Tuesday and that was pretty painful.
I started out really well. My goal was to see how the foot felt and then decide what pace I wanted to run. It felt so good that I passed the one mile marker at 7:38. I decided I needed to dial it down a bit and try to aim for 8:00 to 8:30 pace the rest of the way. I wanted 8:00 but with the hills upcoming and the lack of my feet hitting pavement all week I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Just so you know how well I know my pace, I finished mile 2 at 15:40. That is 8:02 for mile 2. Which was my plan. Yes, I like to brag.
The rest of the race until mile 8 felt good except for the fact that I really had to go potty. We were in the woods but I didn't just want to stop and run out in the trees and go. I really didn't want to get poison ivy either. At mile 8 there was a porta-potty so I stopped. It cost me time but I felt much better those last two miles.
As I mentioned earlier the "switchbacks" are at mile 9. I made it almost to the top and had to walk the last few steps. They seemed worse than the last time I ran this series.
Once I got back onto the road I gathered my legs and gave a good kick to finish strong. As I was coming up on the finish line a guy started to pass me. In case you haven't read it I Finish Strong. At that point in the race I feel like I can't be beat. We both started to push it a little harder and it was on! There was a woman in front of us and we raced around her, him to the left of her and me to the right. Then I pulled away and nearly ran over a guy at the finish line. That always makes a race fun when I can have a strong finish like that with some competition.
Overall I felt pretty good afterwards. I am hoping my foot issue isn't serious. I did enjoy the water workouts so I will keep doing those. So what could have been a bad week ended up being a pretty good one. I could have gotten down because of my foot but my friends at the YMCA just found ways for me to keep training without making it worse. What an awesome way to finish off an inspiring week!
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