When I arrived and starting chatting with many of my favorite runners they were asking me are you really running this today? Many of them knew I ran the 26.2 miles yesterday. I just said yes and I just plan to finish. So I lined up next to a runner Dawn. She is a good runner and we felt we just needed each other to pull through today. Dawn and I had trouble the first couple miles to dodge the slower runners. At one point I had to fall back from her because I just couldn't get around a couple of runners. Then we finally seemed to break from the traffic and get into a good grove. Around mile 3.50 my friend Brian caught up with us and decided it would be funny to scare me... so then he joined our fun times. Around mile 4.50 there was a Gu/Water/Gatorade stop. Dawn and Brian must have stopped longer than me because I lost them. I knew the next water would be right around mile 6 so I held the Gu I picked up until 5.90 miles so I could have some water. I took about 3/4 of the Gu and grabbed some water a the stop. Just as I was going again Brian passed me. He got a second wind and I could not keep up. At mile 7 we headed into the Apple Orchard. I loved all of the youth cheering us on. I even saw the Youth running director at mile 7.50 or so. These 3 mile were so serene and calming. Even though I knew I was running slower and I would have to stay focused to finish strong. At mile 8 my running pal Carri was there and gave me that boost I really needed to push on to the next mile. She even saw me again as I was passing through the water stop on my way out. It really pushed me through to the next part of the apple orchard. Finally I could see ahead we were heading out onto the street again. I gave myself one last pep talk to just push. I turned the corner then the next corner and I could finally see the finish. I looked down at my watch and I was at 1:28 and change. I knew I could finish in under 1:30 if I just pushed through. I did... barely but I did. 1:29:52
They had donuts and pancakes... YUM. After the race I heard some runners saying how hard they thought it was to run in the Apple Orchard but I really liked it. I enjoy when a race challenges us. I think its fun to venture out of our comfort zone and stride to new heights. I could not be happier with how well today went. I finished. I ran better than I expected. This run just proves nothing can truly stop me if I don't allow it.
They had donuts and pancakes... YUM. After the race I heard some runners saying how hard they thought it was to run in the Apple Orchard but I really liked it. I enjoy when a race challenges us. I think its fun to venture out of our comfort zone and stride to new heights. I could not be happier with how well today went. I finished. I ran better than I expected. This run just proves nothing can truly stop me if I don't allow it.
The best part... I am still smiling.
I saw this race recap on Chicago Running Bloggers and was super interested to read your recap! I am originally from Chesterton, IN and never knew of this race-- looks like so much fun and County Line Orchard is so beautiful! You did great- wow!!! And I bet their donuts are PERFECT after a long race like that :-)
ReplyDeleteValerie
www.the-style-files.com
Valerie thanks a lot. Yes this race used to be the Tal Tree 10 miler that they did in Valpo. This year they had to move it because of some issues at Tal Tree and I thought it was so awesome and yes the donuts were awesome!
ReplyDelete