I didn’t give advance warning of my 10 Mile race this weekend because I wasn’t positive I would actually be running it.  I made a quick trip to DC on Friday night for a Saturday afternoon baby shower and returned back to NYC right afterwards.  Usually running after spending 10-12 hours cramped in a car isn’t ideal.  This was also coupled with the fact that I hadn’t actually trained for the 10 mile distance.  Sure, I have been running consistently for the past few months, but 10 miles would be my longest race to date and I had not followed any sort of schedule to build up to it.  Luckily, I am coming off the heels of the BRUTAL training schedule inflicted by the Runner’s World 10k training that ended just over a month ago.  This was the training group that would have us run a mile warm up and a mile cool down with the goal run being six miles.  Yes, all together that equals an eight mile training run for an ultimate goal of running a 10k.  For those who don’t speak K’s, it’s just over a six mile distance.  Ugh.  We also had a famous night of hill work that my Garmin clocked at around 8.5 miles.  So, while I hadn’t intended to train for a 10 mile, it seemed as though I already had.

I woke up at 5:45a Sunday morning which was a mere 3 hours since I had been awoken by Josh returning home for the night.  I think it’s clear where both of our priorities lie.  My running buddy Tracy texted she was up and on her way out the door.  I ran around my apartment gathering a bag for the run as rain was predicted that morning.  20 minutes later I was out the door with two spare t-shirts, an umbrella, flip flops and a towel to dry myself off if necessary.  Two long train rides later we arrived in Brooklyn where I still had to register for the race.  I actually made the correct decision in not registering until race day as the line for race number Pick up was practically back to the subway entrance.  I quickly registered and checked my bag then met up with some of Tracy’s friends who were also running the race.  I quickly realized a lot of people had registered as a 3 person relay team and was jealous they were only running a 5k to my 10 miles.  It also meant that people with fresh legs would always be on the course which is somewhat inspiring/demoralizing.

The race start time was pushed back by 10 minutes so we didn’t actually take off until 8:10 after a cannon was sounded.  It is the first race I have every been in where we all RAN to the course start but I think that was morebecause nobody had any idea where the actual start was.  Not the most organized race…

The course was three loops of Prospect Park and all was well until Tracy mentioned there is a very LONG hill at some point.  Great.   Three passes of a long hill.  Ugh.  Tracy has been nursing some leg issues and fell back about a mile and a half in so the rest of the race I was running solo.  I felt strong at first but it was an extremely humid day and I knew it was going to take a lot of energy to complete.  There were two water stations on course which meant 6 places to grab water overall.  They also were giving out Gatorade and sports gel.  I’ve never trained with gel so I passed that up for both a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade at every single stop except for the first one.  I made myself walk through the stations(who are we kidding, I rewarded myself with a walk) so I could make sure I was able to drink both.

I felt good after the first lap and most of the way through the second.  I had found a rhythm and a group of 6 or so runners who were always around me.  We traded walk breaks so it seemed there was always someone to chase at my pace.  At the start of the third lap,my legs started to tingle as if there were about to go numb.  Uh-oh.  I was pretty much at my longest every distance of consecutive running and wasn’t quite sure what to do if they actually went numb.  They sprung back after about a half mile but then my arms started to tingle.  I shook them above my head and was able to get them back in gear as well.  I walked up the final lap of the hill and then ran the remainder of the race.  It started to rain the final mile and I couldn’t decide if I was happy about this or not.  I was tired and just wanted it to be done.  I contemplated walking once again when a spectator started alerting us there was only a quarter mile left.  I figured I could suck it up for a quarter mile and pressed on.  After 1:46:36 it was finally done.  Was it the worst race ever?  No, it actually wasn’t.  The conditions were far from ideal but I didn’t feel exhausted at the end and this gives me confidence to get myself signed up for a half.  My pace was very slow, even for me but I tried to hold back to be sure I would finish strong.  My Garmin died around mile 5 so I don’t have my splits but my guess is I kept it under 10’s for the first half and then fell in the second.  For my first attempt at this distance, I am okay with this. 

An impromptu brunch followed (always the best part of a race) and I was back in Manhattan by noon.