Today backroadrunner and I are running a 10 mile race. This will be my longest race, yet, but she already completed a 25k last May. I had planned to get ~7 hours of sleep, but my eyes popped open at 4am, so 6 will have to be sufficient. k

I call these "raise a glass" events. Have a great time and pace yourselves well.

Last in my age category (25 runners)...but I still "beat" 8 people overall... The guy who won had some insane time of like 49 minutes--his mile pace is faster than my half-mile pace, LOL! The first mile was OK, but the next 3-4 were horrendous. First I had shin splints kick-in, so I had to slow WAY down. Then as the shin splints let-up my right foot (it's ALWAYS the right foot...) went really numb and it felt like maybe a large stone was embedded in the tread underneath the ball of my foot...so I stopped, but there was no stone. Weird. That finally let-up, feeling returned, and then I was really comfortable and enjoyed the rest of the race, but by that point I was way at the back of the pack. I do definitely see the value in the hill work I have been doing, though. For a long ways I was behind these two girls and v-e-r-y slowly gaining on them. Then midway up a hill I powered past them and picked-up the pace for the last mile or so. I still had enough left to sprint about the last 100 yards. For the most part this race was kind of a let-down for me. I had such an awesome 10+ mile run last Saturday that I was pretty geeked for this race and really thought I could manage a 10:30 pace, even, but I was sorta stressed at the same time and didn't sleep real well most of this past week--and I have found that not enough sleep usually = shin issues and crappy running, overall. I'm just thankful that they eventually went away, but I am hoping that when I do my HM in 6 weeks that I can run faster and without the shin splints. Which brings me to my next question, do you guys think maybe I'd be smart to do more of a taper? I didn't probably do as much of a taper this past week as my body needed...I'm still figuring these things out. I wonder if I overdid it. As great as my 10+ mile run from last weekend felt, I wonder if I was still recovering from that today...add to that the sleep deficit and it was maybe a bit too much, too soon... Anyhow, at least when I do my next 10 miler my current PR should be easy to beat! k

I'm still figuring these things out. I wonder if I overdid it. As great as my 10+ mile run from last weekend felt, I wonder if I was still recovering from that today...add to that the sleep deficit and it was maybe a bit too much, too soon... Anyhow, at least when I do my next 10 miler my current PR should be easy to beat!

Right! And I just took a look at your log and noticed that your pace was faster than your pace in that 10+ mile run last week. And since that includes removing non existant stones from you shoe Anyway, cheers from here! You finished while you were not feeling your best. Great! To answer your question: I think you should not do a 10+ mile run one week before your 10 mile race. So wait with your HM until the day of your HM... And cheers to Eryn too! bas

I agree with Bas. I wouldn't even run as far as 10 miles the weekend before your race, maybe 5 miles at most at an easy pace. Save your strength for your race.

Good job!!

Hmmm...and Eryn didn't run much at all in the last 2 weeks before yesterday's race and kicked ass (she finished almost 10 minutes ahead of me). I'm going to really have to toy with this idea. Maybe see how conditioned I feel in 4-5 weeks and go from there. k

I was surprised at how few of the snail-club ran this race. When I ran my 25K in May (in the same town), there were lots of people my pace & lots more slower than me. This race, although it was much smaller, only had maybe 20-25 people behind me & I was at the back of the pack!!

No you weren't...I only had 8 people behind me and you were 10 minutes ahead of me, bozo! Actually, that did surprise me, too. I was the last in our age category and I don't think 10:50/mile is THAT slow, considering. Had I not been dealing with the shin splints and numb foot I still would have been nearly last in our group, though, as there were only 3 women in our age range between you and I. k