Epic 10 Miler: A Race Report

I already sorta posted my runGR Bridge Run race report over at Daily Mile, but since many of you don't follow me over there (but you can - just click on the daily mile stats over on the right--->) I decided to write a little more about the race here. OK, a lot more, I never claimed I could be brief.

Earlier in the week last week, I was struggling with how I wanted to run this race.  You see, I haven't been training for a 10 mile race.  I've been training for a marathon.  I did what any good user of social media would do, and threw the question out there for cyberspace to answer.  WOW.  I had more hits on that post than I could have imagined and tons of comments, on the post itself, twitter and facebook.  I can't say how thankful I am to have such wonderful friends and followers out there.  You all definitely gave me a lot to think about.

In the end, my decision was made for me.  I'd planned to run 1-2 miles at the gym before the race, but I found out it wouldn't be open early enough.  So, after talking to my sports chiro, I decided to just go all out and run this 10 as hard as I possibly could.  He said if something felt off or I just wasn't feeling the speed, back it down and run a couple more miles later in the day.

Sunday morning started like any other race morning.  Early.  And with almost no sleep the night before thanks to my wonderful snoring husband because I never sleep well before a race.  I got up, made my usual 1/2 cup of oatmeal, and tried to eat some yogurt.  I also checked twitter to see how my friend Kirsten fared at the ER after her epic Tough Mudder race.  After reading her tweets, I promptly got all clammy, lightheaded, and started to strip off layers of clothing because I thought I was going to pass out.  Head between the knees for a few minutes and I was back to feeling OK.  Seriously, go read her race report and give the girl some mad props - she earned them!  Just be warned, some of the content isn't for the faint of heart.

I loaded my crap in the car and headed for downtown Grand Rapids (a whopping 10 miles away - gotta love a close race).  I parked in a lot about a 1/2 mile or so from the start and noticed my engine was smoking and there was a nasty smell coming from under the hood.  Crap.  I seriously thought my car was on fire.  The smoke seemed to go away after a few minutes, so I called the husband (waking his sleepy butt up) to tell him my car was possibly on fire and where it was parked, but that I was going to walk into town for the race. I want a newer van anyway, maybe this is my chance and if I'm lucky it will be a smoldering heap when I get back.  Sadly, it was still parked where I left it and hubs had figured out where the smoke and smell were coming from.