GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler

I was pretty stiff and sore when I got up this morning, but had a 10 mile race to do, so off I went at 6:15am!!!

This is the third year in a row that I have run the GW Parkway Classic in Alexandria. It's a nice race that starts at Mt Vernon and ends in Old Town. The majority of it is run on the GW Parkway, which is nice and flat and runs right along the river. Not much crowd support, but you get a couple of pockets of people who live in the area and come down in packs to cheer us on. It's pretty neat. The highlight for me was just after 5 miles, I look over and there's Mike!!! He surprised me and came down to cheer. :) I'm so used to doing these things alone. It meant so much to have him there!!!

So, this race is where I have had my best pace ever, of all the races I've ever done. Even faster than my 5K's. Pre-marathons, I was always a 9:15-9:45 min/mile runner. Last year at this run, I averaged 8:50. I know I said the course is pretty flat, but I think there's probably more downhill parts, than uphill. That's the only way to explain that record-setting pace for me. Anyway, it killed me that I knew I wouldn't be able to do that again this year, so I just set a new goal. I figured I ran the last marathon at 10:40, so I would aim for 10:20 for the 10-miler. That would be about 1 hour, 43 minutes. Basically, I was just going to consider it another long weekend run, in training for the Half Marathon in 3 weeks. Well, that idea went out the window. My first mile was just over 10 minutes and after that, I kept it around 10 or a little under. I ended up finishing in 1:38. That's 10 minutes slower than I ran it last year, but considering I've been primarily training for distance, rather than speed in the last months, I'll take it. AND, the last mile was my fastest - I kicked it up to about 8:30. I was flying by runners those last couple of blocks. THAT is a rush. :)

Mike met me at the finish and we went to breakfast. I'm spending the rest of my day on the couch and completely resting. Although, I do still really wish I was in Richmond with the fam!!!