Blacksburg 10 miler

Happy to say that I have completed another successful race.  I was a bit worried going into it, having no idea how much my food was going to hurt, or how weak my lungs were going to be.  Turns out my race shoes are a lot nicer to my tendonitis than my training shoes are.  So that was a plus.  And at some point during the race, I realized that I don't actually breathe all the way in when I'm running.  So I started focusing on breathing in as far as I possibly good before exhaling.  And I imagine that helped my lungs not quit on me like they did at Beckley back in October.  So that was another plus.

I wasn't sure how many people were in front of me for much of the race, but there was an out and back portion with the turn-around at mile 7, so that gave me a chance to count the females ahead of me.  I was 7th place female for almost the entire race, but 6th place started walking around mile 8 so I decided to pick up the pace and fly by her.  Around that time, the wind was really picking up, pushing against me.  So I put my head down and pushed back.  For some reason, I find it easier to push the pace when I am pushing into the wind.  It was weird, but that wind actually did help me finish the last 2 miles a lot stronger than I would have without it.

I had absolutely no idea what kind of a pace I was running.  I wasn't wearing a watch, and there were no clocks on the course.  Since I was in the top 10, I assumed I was doing pretty well pace-wise, but I knew I wasn't running my normal top-shape pace.  I was quite pleased to come around the final turn towards the finish and see that the race clock had just turned 1:10.  I finished 14 seconds later.  I am super happy with my finish time.  I would have loved to be under 7 min/mile, but I was not expecting it.  I was expecting to be closer to 7:15, considering how little I've been able to run lately, and how few miles I've gotten.

After the race, I picked up some insoles at the running store, so hopefully they will help my foot hurt less on training runs.

The day in pictures:

Pre-race "selfie."

Sporting my Irish Pub gear...so glad to have a sponsor this year!

I ended up ditching the long sleeve shirt before the race, it was in the high 50s!

Post-race photo.

Super grateful to these girls for doing all the driving on this trip, I don't think I would have made it home alive if I had had to drive home alone. I was beyond exhausted. 

Needed a post-race bacon cheeseburger, and Trish sent me to The Cellar while she and Bethany got Chipotle.  They had such a fabulous selection of beers that are unavailable in WV, I had to pick out a selection while I was waiting for my burger.  The one on the far right is a "Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter." I can't wait to find out what that tastes like...it sounds intriguing. 

20 days til my next half marathon. After today's success, I'm not so worried about it!