My hopes for the race was to run a faster per-mile-pace than the 1/2 in Athens:
I had been warned about the hills during the second half of the race. I was ready for that. BUT, during my training I have been taking in water every 2 miles if I went longer than 6. The 10 miler only had 3 waterstops, plus one impromptu one at mile 9-something.
Other than the water stops – let me regress here again: the first one at mile 3.14, second one at mile 5, last one at mile 6.89, plus the impromptu one (where they handed out bottles of water) – I am not complaining. The course was challanging with a visible steady incline from mile 8.5 to 9.5. I checked my Garmin and the elevation changed 130 ft in that mile. The Gamin actually showed an incline from 7.5 to 9.5 but I didn’t really notice it until 8.5. I managed to hold on to an 11 min/mile pace from mile 8 to 9 and then ran a sub 10 the last mile.
The great thing about the race was that my daughter and her boyfriend watched me run. It was nice having them there; it was a special treat. 🙂 The other great thing was the nice New Balance jacket I received for signing up. 🙂 (No medal at the finish line though; can’t have it all)
To make a long story short: My overall mile pace during the Athens’ half was 10:26; it was 10:23 for the 10 miler. Mission accomplished!
Three more weeks until the Capital City Half Marathon!