Goldy's 10 Mile- Happy Anniversary

I put off this post with all that happened on Monday in Boston and still have a tough time even focusing on this as I continue to hear from friends who were very near the finish line and the news stories. It only makes my love of running stronger and as I headed out to run with my group last night after our moment of silence, we were all happy for our ability to run and the safety of the trails we headed on. To make for an even more peaceful run we shared our last 2 miles with a large family of deer playing in the fields.

Me and GacGirl (my long time friend and now runner!)

On Saturday Matt and I celebrated our 11th anniversary and instead of heading to Boston like we have the past two years we stayed home to run a 10 Mile race on the college campus where we met nearly 15 years ago. I even pulled out our Greek letters to wear during the race, something I haven't worn in at least 10 years.

Race morning continued with unexpected cold weather, luckily we were able to be in the stadium prior but as soon as we headed out the wind hit and I was not happy to see 29F on the sign (wind chill much lower). As I have been dealing with hamstring/glute issues I knew I wasn't in top racing condition yet and this was hilly. I still lined up near the 1:10 pace and hoped for the best. The race started and my hamstring reminded me it wasn't happy, but after a few minutes to loosen up things were fine. Mile 1 & Mile 2 were okay: close to 7:00 but I knew my breathing was tough and soon by the uphill Mile 3 I was wheezing and began slowing.

I have asthma but I never talk about it, there is no reason. I myself often forget since I can race just fine in warm weather and run in cold, but I guess not race. In my adult life I've had 5 issues: 2 have been in the past winter. My lungs don't handle cold and this wasn't cold!

I continued to slow and soon was running by the 1:15 pacer and managing to keep about a 7:30 pace as the course briefly flattened. Mile 5-7 nearly killed my lungs and we entered an out and back, I decided when I saw Matt I would skip back and run with him, no luck never saw him so I kept going. Mile 8 and I was now coughing all the way uphill. I finally neared the stadium finish but instead of crossing the finish around 1:17 I turned around, ran back and found Matt. We ran together the final 1 Mile and crossed the finish line at a pace I could easily run and breath. My official time reads: 1:36 but this was actually 12+ miles.

We headed in to warm up and wait for the kid's race. O had a blast running the 1K onto the field as we cheered her on and gave high 5s!

Lesson of the race: I will NOT register for winter races any more. I normally don't but this year has been extra brutal. I can easily run an easy pace in cold air but prior to this year my coldest race had been in the 40s. This was done we had fun and ended the night with a great dinner out. I hadn't realized how tough the race was until I woke up Sunday with quads so tired from those hills!