When 10 miles is not 6 miles--Mid Winter Classic Race Report

Newsflash!

10 miles is a lot longer than 6 miles.  No joke.

Back to that a little later.


So the Mid-Winter Classic 10 miler was yesterday if you haven't read the million race reports already.  Seems like everyone and their brother was running this race or spectating.  I had no great goals for this race--a good time would be 1:30, but I was expecting something a little better than 1:40.  I hadn't run any distance longer than 6 miles since 2010 and this was 10 miles.  But really, if you can run 6 miles, surely you can run 4 more?  right?  That's what I told myself.

Anyhoo, I was so happy this race had a bit later start so I didn't have to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to get there.  I left the house around 7:30 and ate a piece of peanut butter toast on the way and sipped my mt. dew.  My usual.  I hadn't picked up my bib and shirt yet so I did that first and who did I run into?  Mandy!  I finally got to meet her!!  After a couple of years stalking following her blog, I finally got to meet her in person.

I look like a giant in this photo.

She is pretty awesome in person.  I also ran into a friend from high school, Todd, Danielle (another blog I stalk on a regular basis), Jen, Jen, Carrie and Jill.

Danielle and I--she's my preggo running friend.  So cute!

I hung out with Mandy for a little bit while she was passing out bibs and shirts.  Pretty soon it was time to get to the start so I went to my car and got my stuff and headed out.  Jen and Jen were with me for a little at the start line but I knew they were much faster than I, so I was planning to run alone.  Mandy then found us before the start so she joined us.  Bam!  All of a sudden the gun went off and everyone was running.

Jen took off almost immediately (cause she's a pretty fast cookie), and Mandy and I kept a pretty even pace of about 9:00-9:30 for the first 3-4 miles.  We were chatting and messing around and it was going by pretty quickly. 

camera?  woo!! 

Clearly before my bonk.

Photos courtesy of Maine Running Photos

Around mile 5 ish? I looked up and there was a guy running against all the runners.  Mandy and I made fun of him cause he was probably doing the loop backwards and getting 20 in instead of just the 10.  But no!  It was my friend Todd, he was trying to get in more miles and ran back to see if he could find me to run with for a little bit.  (It was a training run for him, clearly, he is much faster than I! lol)

We three ran together for a while and then around mile 6 or 7, I started to feel like I had lead in my legs.  I had a gummy around mile 5, but I probably should have had two.  Mandy took off because all of sudden she turned channeled her inner Meb or something and I slogged along for the last 3 miles barely putting one foot in front of the other.  Todd kept running (well, really he was almost walking) with me till the end talking about all kinds of things I probably should have listened to.  Really all I heard, was "blah, blah, try to lean forward, blah, blah, lactic acid, blah, blah, intervals will help, blah, blah, push yourself through, blah, blah."

I think my finish photo says it all. 



Photo courtesy of Maine Running Photos

where the fuck is the finish line anyway?

Well, at least I've got a finish photo this time around, right?  Finish time 1:37.  Well, really, just where I thought I'd be.  Strangely, I'm now disappointed with this time.  But really, do I have any reason to be?  I haven't ran anything over 6 in a year and a half.  10 is almost DOUBLE 6 (almost). 

I really need to work on the fueling and training for after mile 7.  Each time (all two of them) that I've run longer than that, I bonk.  My legs die.  I have no gas.  I need to work on this.

Despite my slow pace I am still a sweaty mess after running.  I had 3 shirts and that jacket on and all were wet with my sweat.  Which makes for a really cold gal when you stop running.  Thankfully, I had thought ahead and brough stuff to change into, but of course, it was a half a mile away in my car.  #fail  I didn't want to run to the car, then back to the school to change in the bathroom so I just changed in my car.  I managed not to scare any small children or pets.

you are so glad you cannot smell that

Heat cranked, sweats on, DD hot cocoa and I headed home.  To do nothing the rest of the day.  Cause I could barely walk.  Remind me again why running 10 miles is fun?

Any advice on how to get over the 8-10 mile wall?  Really.  Not kidding.