20 Miler, A Race AND A PR!!!

Alright, so today, 20 mile long run, first of 6 planned, but this one was a bit different because I had a half marathon race in the middle of it…so the breakdown of the day.

Alarm at 4:30…ugh…was out of bed just before 5 though, had a new breakfast, scrambled eggbeaters with a little lowfat cheddar cheese (one serving), and 2 kashi waffles with light maple syrup and some water. I headed out the door at 5:45, and was to the race start line just before 6. I took off through the neighborhoods for a nice slow 5 mile run pre-race. Splits were 9:56, 9:38, 9:48, 9:16 and 8:59 for an average of 9:33, which was about what I wanted. I finished about 6:47 or so, had just enough time to go in, use the bathroom (love this race the flush toilets actually have a shorter line), do a little stretching of the IT Band and eat a fruit bar before the race started right at 7 am. Now I knew I could potentially PR on this race (this is the same course I got my PR last year, although the prior half I had run I knew had a very soft time on it) and still not do damage to my quest for a long run at a light pace…plus if I did race it, there is plenty of time to recover in the 11 weeks left before MCM!

We headed out and first mile was slow at 9:13, but it was a crowded start, I think there are about a thousand runners in this race, it’s a nice little race that I like to do because proceeds go toward classes where elementary school students learn about nature at a reserve area in the city. Parts of the course is through the city of Richfield's neighborhoods and parts are around some small lakes and the nature reserve so it’s a nice course, fairly flat, very shaded and while light on spectators is well run. This year they even managed to make it a “waste free race” by having cups that are biodegradable (which I expected to be recycled paper, but they were actually hard plastic, and kind of short, NOT good for trying to drink on the run out of, but oh well), food that was all organic and all waste is going to compost heaps, even the gear bags were made of recycled stuff, and the shirts are nice, light weight tech shirts, I LOVE my one from last year for training in and this year it’s the same one only green, my favorite color. Anyway, the only slight complaint I’d have about the race is that the first trip around a lake on a smaller path happens after the first mile, so the crowd hasn’t thinned out a lot yet, so it can be a bit tough trying to keep a nice pace and work through the crowds, but it’s not bad and I managed to keep a fairly good pace, just not real consistent (I’ll post splits in a little bit). Anyway, it was a nice day, cool, (probably upper 50s low 60s, I never heard a forecast that said morning temp) and overcast, it sprinkled off and on from mile 4 on and felt really good. It was humid though as I was dripping at the end…ah well. I started at the back and mainly moved up on people, only had a few pass me and around mile 10 I had one girl pass me but I kept her in my sights, there had been another girl I had been eyeing to move up on as well, and when I hit the place where there was about .5 to go, going into the last nature area we run through, I took off, flew past the girl who had passed me and the other girl I had been eyeing and a bunch of other people, but I guess an advantage of having run the course before is you know how much further you have to go and you know how much you have left in you…it felt so good too…just all out sprint, I hit the 13 mile mark and heard someone yell that if you sprint now you can just make it in clock time of under 1:54, I knew I was at least a minute faster than clock time, but I really pushed it and hit the mat at 1:54 on the nose…I grabbed some water, checked Garmin which told me I had just run 13.30 miles, so I jogged out and finished up my 1.7 so I could have a total of 20 miles for the day, that was at a very slow average pace of 10:30, but I had just raced, so the slower time was acceptable.

My previous PR, on this course last year, was 1:57:30, I ran 1:53:08 official chip time today and that was with a 5 mile “warmup” prior to the run…I think next year I’ll really race this course and see what I can do!!

Splits:
Mile 1: 9:13
Mile 2: 7:53 (oops a little fast)
Mile 3: 9:05 (water stop and first with those cups that kind of slow you down)
Mile 4: 8:21
Mile 5: 8:33
Mile 6: 8:34
Mile 7: 8:26
Mile 8: 8:47
Mile 9: 8:41
Mile 10: 8:56 (another water stop that kind of slowed me down a bit, kind of busy)
Mile 11: 8:24
Mile 12: 8:19
Mile 13: 7:51
Mile .1 (actually .3) 2:04 (mile pace of 6:38, I knew I was flying!!)

I got one of the free massages after, told her I had a tight IT band, but I think she was tired of doing it by then as I didn’t get a very good one, I think I need to get in and get this taken care of soon though, it’s been tight a while and part of the goodie bag had discount things for a massage at a few places…also had $2 toward a treat at Dairy Queen…I think I might have to go there before work tonight!!

Oh, I finally got the times added together now too, I had an 8:56 average pace for my “20 miler” today…I think I can count it as a true 20 miler too as the only break really in there was about 10 minutes, and bathroom break would’ve been something I needed at some point anyway…without the race, I am hoping I would’ve had an average of 9:10 or so, which is my goal for the long runs. The really great thing though is this showed me I can run a 15 miler the week before and still run a good half, so I can really race Disney and still run the 25K I want to run (as long as I take it slow and take an easy week before which I have planned) that I want to run. It’s the 25th Anniversary of this 25K and they are giving out beer steins as a keepsake…I want something other than a T-shirt!!

Alright, I’ve rambled on enough, I’m going to go lay in the sun and/or clean up my car and maybe take a nap before I have to work at 6 tonight and then head out at 11 for a drink with a friend…At least this week has gotten a bit better on the runs, I’ll take it easy tomorrow, maybe something light to loosen up the legs after today, but going into a hard week next week, although I might move intervals to Wednesday and take out the tempo run this week just to have a slight recovery.