Lake George - north of the race
I knew I had a race on Sunday -a
10 Miler so when our friends called us up to go out and wine and dine at first I said no. But when I ran it by my husband I could tell he wanted to go. We don't go out with them that often and it is always fun. It wasn't like I had a big prize purse on the line so we went. And yes a good time was had by all and no it wasn't optimal before race carbo loading and rest.
Before I knew it it was 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning and I was getting up. My husband was coming with me and he was up and ready by 4:30ish. Off we went. Not too far along I realized I had forgotten my usual toast and peanut butter. There wasn't time to go home so I was on the lookout for something similar to eat.
Our first stop was at the best bakery going where doughnuts were hot out of the oven and the coffee was hot. They don't open until 6 but let you in if you stop by. There were no bagels and the owner told us he was busy making 40 dozen for a local triathlon. They make great bagels so the triathletes must have been thrilled. I bought 2 old fashioned glazed for later. Didn't think my stomach would want me to eat them before the race but knew I would totally deserve them after the race. We made one more bathroom stop at a gas station which had a deli. The woman happily made me an English muffin with peanut butter - problem solved.
The Garmin GPS tried to send us on a ferry that wasn't running. After many "
RECALCULATING" it settled on the route we were taking. We arrived at the race and I got everything I needed with no difficulty. Looking around I saw no one I knew as this race was a good distance from my house.
The Start - Garminless
Shortly before the race start my Garmin 405 once again was dead. I spent a lot of time on review boards when I got home and I have a couple more tricks to try before I plop down some money for a new Garmin. It works fine most of the time but has failed at my last two races. Seems to be it doesn't like the drive? I need to start bringing one of my sport watches so I have some knowledge of how I am doing. This threw me a little for the beginning of the race as I couldn't stop thinking about my stupid Garmin. It took me a few miles to settle in plus it was fairly crowded. The course was a point to point with rolling hills. Lake George was to our right the entire way. At first I felt like 10 miles was going to be way more than I wanted to do today but I eventually settled into it one mile at a time. It was overcast but humid. I didn't realize how humid until I saw how sweaty, wet and disgusting I was when I was done. I had gone about 4 miles when someone asked me if I was from Bristol. I couldn't imagine why I was being asked that as I certainly had nothing on that said it and we were in another state. But I said yes (which is a bit of a lie, it is where I teach, not where I live) and then I asked her how she knew that. Turns out she knows a couple of people I know and she recognized me. She was running with a friend from the area. I ended up switching places with these two many times. In later miles when I started to get more behind them I pushed myself to stay near them. In the end I went in ahead of them by a small amount. They were definitely a help to me.
My husband drives beside me for a ways
Around Mile 5 the sheriff's car went by me and not much after that my husband was alongside me. He told me later he could see me for about 20 minutes. He also warned me that I might get to the end before him and he wouldn't be at the finish. As it was he got there about 7 minutes before me. Traffic was crawling.
I loved passing the Mile 5 mark. They had volunteers at every mile calling out the time. I could see that I was doing somewhat better than I thought I might. I had told my husband I would be at the finish around 1:40:00 or somewhat less. Most of my miles were in the 9s. There was only one mile that I think was 10 flat. I didn't feel myself flag like I do in a half. But that makes sense as it is usually past Mile 10 that I begin to crash. I would like to do a 10 miler sometime when I have really trained for it. As I said before the course was rolling hills but I actually liked that a lot. I would make up time on the downhills and not do too badly on the uphills. I seemed to be around the same people and didn't feel I was losing ground.
It was hard to know when to pick it up for the finish as I didn't know where it was. I had thought it was going to be hillier so I was saving a little but it was flat. I ended up with a time of 1:34:07 with a pace of 9:25. I was delighted with this. My pace has been off lately and this is a very reasonable pace for me with this distance. Yeah!
Almost at the finish
Best post race food ever
We hung around for awhile but I was freezing due to the sweaty disgusting wet clothes I had on. We walked to the car which my husband had parked at a church. Mass was getting out as we arrived at it with me looking so lovely.
For the trip home we decided to go a new route so no shopping which was fine. We drove North along Lake George. It is quite big and beautiful. Eventually we came to the Lake Champlain Bridge - which is not there as it is being rebuilt. There is a free ferry. My husband loved taking the ferry and seeing the progress on the bridge.
He took many more pictures of the bridge than of me running! I was thrilled to have a bathroom on the ferry as I was reaching desperate times.
Approaching the Champlain Bridge
Two ferries go back and forth 24/7
Once home I kind of crashed due to racing, a very early morning, wining and dining the night before.....whatever! I was also still cold and I dressed like it was late winter, not summer.
Fairly nice medal
Quite nice wicking shirt - long sleeve- not
sure why this time of year. Some people
were wearing it - waay too hot for that!
I would definitely do another 10 mile race. I really liked the distance.I don't think there are a lot around. There was another one the very same day. I am finding a lot of the races I am looking at seem to be on the same day. What's up with that? Let's spread out the goodness.
