tune up - MJ8K race report

I didn't really have my pre-race freakout, Sami took care of that for me, having her first ever (and hopefully last) night terror night before last. If you have never experienced this, it is truly unsettling. Your toddler screams and cries in her sleep, is unconsolable, and there's nothing you can do but wait it out. So I didn't come in to the race as rested as I would have liked. Add to that the cold that I've been fighting working its way down in to my chest, and I was basically treating this run like a training run.

But when I got there, I felt pretty good. I warmed up for a mile, and the congestion started clearing up. The weather was great, chilly, but not super cold. I saw lots of friends, and was in a great mood by the time the crowd finally started moving. I wasn't exactly sure where the start line was (I hit my watch at the balloon arch, but I was almost .1mi short at the end, so I'm pretty sure the start was farther back).

I started running with a friend, and we chatted and braced ourselves for the hills ahead. The hill in Lexington, near the 1 mi mark was pretty killer, and I was glad I had warmed up before the race. The course twists and turns, and I'm never exactly sure of the route ahead, but I did know that after a lazy downhill down the Mall, there was that killer hill up McIntire. I put my head down, shortened my stride, pumped my arms, and ran up that hill. I looked up at the top, and realized I'd left my friend behind.

As you might imagine, there's a big downhill after this big uphill, and I took full advantage of it, and flew down. Some twists and turns, and then another massive, killer uphill. This hill is my nemesis, and I don't think I've ever run the whole thing. It is long and it is steep. And I RAN up that long and steep hill.

I took a well deserved gulp of water at mile 4, just on the other side of the hill, and set my sights on the finish. I ended up very close behind another runner as we made the final turn before the chute, and I was thankful that she kicked it in to high gear, too so that I didn't have to either awkwardly pass her or feel like I could be finishing harder.

And that was it! I was done, and my watch said 47:57. Truthfully, I was probably about 30 seconds slower than that, since I hit start after I crossed the actual start. But my overall pace on 9:47 and my freakin' awesome negative splits are right on the money. I can't believe with the two most killer hills in the second half of the race that each mile was faster than the next.

(UPDATE: Official gun time was 48:46, 9:50 pace; no chips at this race, but I figure it took about 30 sec to cross the start.)

I've been on a great streak of meeting goals and setting PR's, and I hope I can keep it up for the 10 miler in two weeks. Between now and then, I need to seriously consider my goals for the race. My goal of 10:30/mile might be too conservative. I've trained so hard, and had a magically wonderful snow- and illness-free winter that it would be a shame to not try for something a little faster. I have never had a streak of more consistent training, and with two little kids, I'm not likely to again any time soon. Based on my 5K's, my 2 mile time trial, and now today's race, I think that 10:15/mile is definitely within my reach.

To put it in perspective, my previous PR's in both the MJ8K and the 10 miler were in 2007. The 8K PR was 10:43/mi - almost a minute/mile slower than I ran today. My 10 miler PR a few weeks later was 11:10/mi.

It's terrifying to set a goal of 10:15, knowing that I might not reach it, especially knowing that I'd be really, really close. After meeting or beating all my major goals this season, I would be crestfallen not to meet the goal I'd been working for all this time. But what's the point of setting a safe goal? Would the woman who ran a marathon while still nursing a 10 month old set a safe goal?

Go big, or go home.

10:15, here I come.