Today I completed the Run for Water 10 miler. Yep, 10 miles not the more common 10K. It’s not quite a half marathon but significantly longer than the 6.2 of the 10K. I am coming off a bout with the flu (thanks Primrose preschoolers!) so my goal was to finish in a relatively slow time. What I didn’t anticipate were the hills on the course. It was a lot more challenging physically than I expected. In comes the mental tenacity to finish no matter what. I was feeling (relatively) good through 7 miles. Apparently tackling all the hills and keeping on pace came back to get me in those last 3. 8 was miserable, 9 was decent and 10 was a mental challenge just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The good news - I finished and earned my piece of the magnet! The bad news - I was over 5 minutes slower than my drop-dead-this-is-the-slowest-I-should-ever-go pace. Hey - I could have stayed in bed, taking advantage of that extra hour instead of burning off 1400 calories. 😉
Inner mile dialog
Mile 1-nice one - jogging along nicely with my new friend Rachel
Mile 2-a little slower but still good company
Mile 3-well that was a little steep
Mile 4-still moving good
Mile 5-halfway! Might as well finish since it’s as far back as forward
Mile 6-holy hills but that one felt like it went by fast
Mile 7-phew still on pace and only steps behind the group I have been leapfrogging with
Mile 8-oh man, that one hurt. Slightly off pace now
Mile 9-that was better and it’s not like going slow makes it less painful
Mile 9.1-crap, it seems like a long way to the end
Mile 9.5-oh bother.
Mile 9.8-Can’t even see the finish line - are they still there?
Mile 10-hallelujah, where’s the ice bath?
Mile 10.1-of course they put the Austin Distance Challenge tent at then end! Ha!
