Soldiering on

I ran my first 10-miler of the year this past Memorial Day weekend. I love this race because it's my own official and unofficial kick-off to birthday celebrations. Going into it I wasn't feeling prepared, physically or mentally. My running for the three weeks prior to race day consisted of a handful of 4-5 milers. Not quiet the training for a 10mile race, or is it? There's so much to be said for the power of momentum. It was an awesome race! While I wasn't feeling the most prepared it was very important to show up and run this race. It's a favorite, and because I missed it last year I soooo wanted to run it this year.

My strategy was to take it nice & easy. Well, that, and to trail other runners for inspiration. It worked! For the first 3-4 miles a woman wearing a gray t-shirt carrying her own water bottle became a pseudo pacer for me. I lost her when I walked through an aid station. For the rest of the race I trailed a women who was wearing blue shorts. She was running with a friend, and it looked liked she was pacing her friend too. Did I mentioned that it worked?! My pace was super consistent the entire race, I didn't even stop once except for walking through aid stations. I will have to employ this strategy for longer races, my final time was almost 2 minutes faster than when I ran this race 2 years ago, woo hoo! I hope to have some pics up soon.