Yesterday I ran the Blessing of the Fleet 10 Mile Road Race in Narragansett, RI. This was my first race longer than a 5k, so I went into it as a fun run/learning experience and surprised myself with my performance despite a few mistakes/setbacks prior to the race. Interestingly, the race has a separate category for walkers - not sure how many 10-mile walks there are out there, but I imagine it can't be that many. They take the same course as the runners but get a 1-hour head start and have a separate finish chute.

No pictures yet, there were photographers on the course so I might find one or two eventually

Pre-race: Unfortunately, my daughter got sick Wednesday morning and was still at home recuperating yesterday, which also happened to be my husband's last day of work at his old job. He was a good sport and came home as early as he could but I still got on the road much later than I wanted - I'd been warned that traffic to the race is horrendous, most of the ride was fine but it took me a solid 40 minutes to travel the 2 miles from highway to parking. I parked at 5:30, put on my cap, tucked an extra GU and my car keys into my back pocket, grabbed my handheld bottle and set off running the 1.5 miles to the start. The website indicated that there would be shuttles from the far parking area to the start but I didn't have time to wait around and see if that was true, and plus I really had to pee after spending an hour and a half in my car. I passed one of our club's coaches when I got to the school that was serving as registration/check-in headquarters, and he said that my friends had my number and were waiting inside. Just enough time to pee, my friend helped me pin my bib on (adrenaline-induced shaky hands!), I stash my shirt around a corner in the school building, and we walk/jogged to the start while I downed my first GU and took a couple gulps of water.

The race: The start of the race is on a narrow street in front of the town's middle school. Almost 2900 people is not a huge crowd, but for the area where the race is held it's definitely a lot of people. My friends and I worked our way up a little closer to the front before the gun and actually ended up in a pretty good (appropriate) position to start from - there were lots of people, a little weaving in the first mile, but wasn't too inconvenient for me given that I'm not super fast.

Mile 1 - Once I got through the crush at the start, I just kinda coasted off the people around me, settled into a comfortable pace. There were a couple of houses with crowds of people cheering and blasting music, it was a really fun start to the race. I was actually glad I had to run to the start, I was already warmed up and feeling good. There was a guy with a hat that had an empty beer can dangling above his face like a carrot on a stick, was kind of fun to hear everyone reacting to it as they caught up/passed from further back in the pack. A nice downhill stretch came up that I used to my advantage. 9:36

Mile 2 - Just cruising. We turn right and run parallel to the ocean for a long stretch. Short uphill, I pass a few people easily. More music, couple of dudes cracking jokes and making sarcastic commentary entertained me for a bit. 9:28

Miles 3-4 kind of blurred together a bit. Splits were 9:17, 9:30; seeing that 9:17 made me worry a bit that I'd crash and burn before the finish line. Listened to a group of firefighter recruits for a while - they ran the entire 10 miler chanting and in pair formation, lead guy carried a flag. Caught up with my faster friend. Got a water at some point, mostly spilled it on myself. My stomach started to feel iffy but it didn't affect my pace at all.

Most of mile 5 was a gentle climb; wasn't awful, but took its toll on my pace for mile 6. I took my second GU and hit a water stop somewhere in there. 9:51, 10:03. Stomach still wasn't great but not getting worse either so I just tuned it out.

When we hit the marker for mile 7 (split 9:36) I feel much more confident. I was more than halfway done and didn't feel drained at all. There was a ton of shade on this stretch and the sun was going down, a few people had hoses between here and the end and I ran through every one. I found another gear between the 7 and 9 mile markers. I passed a ton of people and eventually broke away from my friend. I felt strong. 9:07, 9:07.

At the marker for 9 I kicked it up another notch. So close! One of our coaches cheered me on in the final stretch and I really kicked it and passed a bunch of people into the chute. Split for mile 10 was 8:30, and the last 0.08 was 33 seconds - I assume weaving/not running perfect tangents/starting my watch slightly before the actual start line gave me that extra distance.

Garmin time: 1:34:36, chip time 1:34:17, 1581/2881 OA, 210/425 F20-29

Splits and elevation profile:

Despite a bit of panic while trying to get to the race on time (and lingering nausea all night afterward - have some ideas to prevent this next time), I had a great experience. I was really struck by the fact that longer distance is a totally different animal than 5k - I mean, logically I knew this, but this was the first time I experienced it firsthand. This race was also my first long run without a short water stop/walk or stretch break in the middle somewhere; I was really unsure that I'd be able to run the whole thing, but I didn't feel like I had to stop at any point. Guess the race atmosphere really does play a big role in performance. I'm a little stiff/sore today but nothing awful. I think I could have pushed a little bit more in the middle of the race, but given that I had no idea going in how I should pace it and also didn't want to be wrecked for a week afterward, I'm quite happy.

Thanks for reading!

Great job! Way to pick up the pace at the end!

Great job, Lauren!  Sounds like it was a fun atmosphere.  Congrats on a strong race, especially having only done 5Ks before.

Thanks guys!

LRB and Ginny - I think my plan for the rest of the summer/fall is going to be to continue building up my mileage and race some shorter stuff (5k-10k), but get my long run up around 10-12 consistently so if I see a HM that I want to run in the fall I'll have the base to jump in and do it. I think there's one literally every single weekend from September through November around here. There's a big half in March that I'll target for a serious effort - loosely sub-2:00, with a more specific goal once I have a few more months of miles and speed under my belt. Meeting with my coach this week to set some goals and make a plan to get there

Congratulations on your 10 miler.    Way to go on your first attempt and also managing your nerves prior to the race start.  I would have been a mess cutting it so close to the start time.

Thanks! Really, I was about to lose my shit when I got out of my car - the warmup run chilled me out a bit so I got to the start in a good mental place.

Awesome job, Lauren!!   You sound like you felt so strong, and gained a lot of confidence.  This longer race is probably just what you needed.

You did that like a pro, Lauren.  Congratulations! I'm so glad that you enjoyed the experience!

Nice job, Lauren