RailRunner 10miler

On Saturday, March 9 was the first RailRunner 10miler at the beautiful RJ Corman property in Nicholasville, Ky. As soon as they announced having this event I was really excited for it. Since we are training for half's right now we have done two 12 miles already, and I wasn't too good at them so I wasn't too sure how I would do. I decided to go into it without huge expectations, 1:40 would make me happy and anything better than that is awesome. I told the hubs the night before I was really going to try my best and see what happens.

Race day weather couldn't have been any better other than being a little cool it was about 37* with sunshine. Any event I have ever been at RJ Corman is top notch and this one was no exception. There was a couple of vendors set up but I never went up to any of them so I couldn't tell you who/what they were. This was the first race of the year that almost everyone of my runner friends was at so we all had a lot of catching up to do:)

Such an awesome group and that's not ALL of us:)

And this was my hubs first longer than a 5k  distance race so he was a little excited

and tried to steal my Bondi Band! Is he Crazy? What is he thinking? LOL!!

While we was waiting in the line up for the race to start all of us was chattering about what we was expecting and what kind of pace we was hoping/expecting. My intentions was to start out slower (9:30ish) for the first 5 miles and pick it up(9:09ish) in the second 5 miles.  That was a good plan except I started out with the rest of the group that I used to be able to keep up with......

Geez look how chubby I have gotten. Probably shouldn't have my arms up in the air!

And I blew that theory out the window with the first two miles clocking in at 8:47!! But I was able to keep up with the group for about 4 1/2 miles which I think impressed the hubs:) After that I slowly started slipping farther and farther away from the group and that was ok I was hoping to be able to run the whole thing so I knew I was going to have to slow down.

 If you are ever in Kentucky and there is a race at the RJ Corman property in Nicholasville, Ky you HAVE to make sure and do it. It is truly one of the prettiest 5k courses I have ever been on. For this 10mi race we ran the 5k course looped over to the airplane runway (yes Mr. Corman has his own airport, google him to read about him very interesting story behind him) where we ran up and down the runway back out to the 5k course again.

I was able to keep running until about 5.5 mi when I had to walk a few steps~ darn it! But the worst thing was the hubs saw me walking and yelled out "Keep running Bobbie!" I'M TRYING I nicely yelled back. The runway was the hardest part for me and I was already dreading it from the beginning so that didn't help. It was LONG, STRAIGHT and concrete you could see the end but just felt like I would never get there! I usually try not to look at my pace during races so it doesn't freak me out but several times while on the runway I looked down at my pace and of course it freaked me out 8:50. I just couldn't slow down and get my pacing right at all it was either too fast for me or walking. I knew when we left the runway and headed back to the 5k loop for the final there was a decent size hill so I tried hard to slow it down and save  some energy for it. (I was afraid to take any gels my belly wasn't feeling right)  While I was walking one of my buddies Todd came up behind me and said "Come on Bobbie just 2 more to go. Pace it with me" I tried but he was in his picking it up stage and I was  in my I'm DEAD stage.

Then within the last mile another one of my "group" came up behind me, it was the only thing that saved me! (Although the hubs doesn't like hearing that:) Ricky is a really great motivator when you are feeling like this is it, I suck, I'm never doing this again, Why do I even try! Some people are just good at that and he is one of them. There is a foot bridge that is awful to cross, it jumps up and down and make me dizzy. I told Ricky the bridge would get me and I would probably be walking after it but there was only a half mile left. His reply "You can do this! It's only a half mile, you just ran a marathon the whole thing! Let's slow it down, YOU CAN DO THIS!"

Ricky #175 to my left Sorry Jennifer to my right but I didn't want you to beat me!

And wouldn't you know it I DID! And I even picked it up for a strong finish! I felt like I was going to throw up, pass out, fall down or use the bathroom on myself I pushed that hard at the end, BUT if you WANT something that's what you gotta do sometimes! I finished in 1:35:47 with a 9:32 overall pace! Best long run I've had pace wise in a long time and I even walked what I thought was lots!

I'm hanging in there and am accepting where I am at as far as pace and such but gotta ask the question:
How do you not beat yourself up? How do you stay motivated when you feel like your going no where?

**I HAVE to give a HUGE shout out to Bob with 3 Way Racing! This man was the nicest to me while I was   being a complainer, he was even nice enough to say I wasn't. First I had a discount code that didn't work that he fixed then my hubs had a problem with his finish time that was reported. So being the awesome wife I am contacted Bob and wouldn't you know he took the time to review the RaceFace video taken at the end of the race and correct his time even though it really was my hubs fault. He had his bib on his shirt that was tied around his waist and it didn't read when he crossed the finish. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH BOB! WE REALLY ENJOYED THE RACE AND LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR! AND OTHER RACES PUT ON BY YOU, THEY ARE AWESOME:)