river run

On Friday - I was reading janet's blog and I saw that she was up in the air as to what do to this weekend race wise. She told me that she was going to run the riverrun half marathon on sunday - do a few miles before and a few after to make it a 20 miler. So - with very little arm twisting i decided to do the same.
On sunday morning - I couldn't sleep - i hadn't really run in a week - and I was nervous - I wasn't sure how to even run this race - do i got out hard to i take it easy b/c it's a 20 miler... I wasn't sure what to do. Needless to say the worrying did not help my foot or my stomach feel very good. I'm convinced now that half my injury is in my head. Funny how my foot felt fine on saturday but hurt sunday morning before the race.... ok i know it's not totally in my head - it's sore today and i know that that is from running - but i really think that it's like the good old bobbi mcfarrin song "when you worry you make it double - so don't worry..." So how bout I sang that song at kareoke on friday - night - a bad song sung by a very bad singer who's had one to many adult beverages... anyway - back to sunday. I met Janet for a 2 mile warm up - and then we were off - I ran with janet for about 3 minutes before I realized I should probably back off a bit - no need to blow up half way through this race. Before the race Janet suggested that I try for a 1:45 - which would be an 8 minute pace - which would put me right about where i need to be for my 3:40. So that in mind I tried to keep around an eight minute pace - didn't push it too too hard - I knew i still had five miles to go after the race - but definately made sure i was putting in a hard effort. Well i was doing great keeping on pace til I got to the water stops. I can't drink out of a cup and run - i have to walk for a few steps...well I learned that I take way too long at water stops - b/c in order to get my pace for that mile split back down to an eight- i'd have to run a 7:45 pace to make up for the 10 -15 seconds of walking. Well as the race went on - I tried to push myself hard on the last few miles. I ended up running a 1:47:31 - a p.r. by 9 minutes and 20 seconds!! can't be disappointed with that. So - according to mcmillian I should be at about at 1:45 - well according to everyone's garmin the course was .1 - .12 too long - and... I definately spent too much time at the water stops. I'm glad I ran this race though - it shows me that I'm close to a bq - I may not be quite there yet - and i might not be there at the towpath - but i'm close and I will get there soon. It also showed me that i really need to take into account the time it is going to take me to gu and take in water and even stop to pee if i have to during the race. I think this really gives me a better idea of what i have to do in order to make my goal. Oh - and I was secretly hoping to get top 10 in my age group - b/c this is a decent sized race with some great runners... I got 7th! i know it's no age group award - but i was really pleased with it! I think I'll definately do this race next year - it was a lot of fun! Oh and if you were wondering - no we didn't run the last 5 - poor Janet was freezing from the time she spent at the finish waiting for me - and my stomach wasn't feeling very good - so we walked the mile plus to the car and called it at day. A big thanks to steve for dropping me off at the start and picking us up at the finish!