Race #160
10 Miler #3
2019 Race #4
2019 10 Miler #1
Green Valley 10 Miler #2
When registering for races at the end of last year, I made the difficult decision to not register for Hilton Head. I have run Hilton Head every year since I first started running. The overwhelming pressure that this year brought plus the added expenses of the drive down and the hotel stay added disincentives. That meant I could register for Green Valley, a local race that I have missed every year save one due to it falling on the same Saturday as Hilton Head.
As I recover from sickness and slowly build towards the marathon in Salt Lake, I had no goals save running strong and steady with a twenty minute warm up and a forty minute “cool down.”
Mom and I had a little bit of trouble finding “Alley Gym” on the Furman campus, ironic since I technically am a Furman student now. Once we parked and asked a volunteer, we made our way to the gym to get my bib. I headed out onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail for my warm up, making it back in plenty of time.
Although this race definitely had more runners than last week, it still after 41 years has a small showing. (By the way, I looked up the results from last week’s half and I “won” for females. I don’t really count it, not with approximately 22 people in the race.)
Once everyone quieted down, the race director said a few words and with little warning counted us off. Okay then.
We took off across the Furman campus full of lovely rollers including the incline at the back of campus towards the point where we exited.
I tried to find a steady pace to settle into but things felt difficult for the first couple miles, especially towards mile 2. Mile 2 seems to be the significant mental hurdle in most of my races because if I can make it past mile 2, I will most definitely finish the race.
I kept plodding away, not looking at my Garmin, which has been my habit of late. I looked forward to mile 4 when I would walk for a minute, as I did last week in the half. I decided to walk at mile 4 and 8 like last week. It helped me break up the miles and did not significantly lower my pace.
Mile 1: 8:22
Mile 2: 8:56
Mile 3: 8:39
Mile 4: 9:14 (my watch differed from the mile markers for this mile so mile 4 includes the walk break)
By the time mile 4 came around, we had reached the Green Valley golf course/subdivision for which the race derives its name. I remembered bits and pieces of the course from the time before, back in 2012, but not most of it, especially since several portions have changed. (I do not remember much else from that portion.)
I actually felt pretty good through these miles and thought perhaps that I would not walk at mile 8 but we had a pretty good hill right before the mile 8 marker so I walked which was the right decision.
Toward the end of this section we reached Travelers Rest and made a right hand turn, normally we would have gotten onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail. However, the race director said something about a diversion onto a side street but I could not hear the reason. Mom told me later that he said that some regulation had passed recently that meant that they would have been charged $5 per runner to use any portion of the trail. I found this ironic because we did end up using a block of the trail after running on a skinny sidewalk directly parallel to the trail. Plus, it’s $5, just increase your fees GTC. You won’t lose runners over $5.
MIle 5: 9:16 (part of the mile 4 walking portion)
Mile 6: 8:57
MIle 7: 9:02 (my pace slowed down in this section apparently)
Mile 8: 8:48
For the last two miles, I focused on running strong. I knew we had almost reached the end. I also knew that even though most of mile 9 had a lovely downhill, we still had the nasty uphill near McAllister Auditorium to get back on Mall Road. Whenever I have to run up that hill during the Red, White, and Blue Shoes 5k, I hate it! Of course, this time, I did not run the hill quite as fast. It still hurt though.
Once at the “summit” I knew I could run the remaining half mile or so and cross the finish before the hour and a half mark. It is my slowest 10 miler (of 3) but still a sub 9 pace. I’ll take that.
Looking good at the finish! I did make a conscious effort to be aware of my form when I saw the camera. 🙂
Mile 9: 8:33
Mile 10: 7:40 (I have no idea where that came from)
Overall: 1:29:04
My tired legs did not make for a pretty forty minutes after but I got to run with Mom for the first time in a while! I’ll take that.