Eastern States 20 mile Race

What a feeling! I ran the Eastern States 20 mile Race this past Sunday. This is the furthest distance I have run, let alone raced.

The race was an all day event, a group of 6 of us left Salem at 7:30 and returned around 4. The logistics were the time consuming part. We drove to New Hampshire and parked, took a bus to Massachusetts where we chilled for a couple of hours in a gymnasium (okay, most of us went back and forth on what to wear, snacked, packed our gear--yes 20 miles involves gear, and made frequent bathroom trips). Here is the group of us waiting, and well, keeping our minds off the 20 miles in the rain upon us:)



The race started at 11. This is the Eastern States race because it takes you along the coast (almost all is on the coast) from Kittery, Maine to Salisbury, Massachusetts along route 1A in New Hampshire (aka Ocean Blvd). Here is a sample of some of our scenery. Note: it was a steady rain and it didn't look quite as beautiful as this, but the ocean is always beautiful! Yes, that second picture is pretty accurate while the first includes more sun that we ever saw!






The purpose of the race for me was to actually try and race the 20 miles and see what my marathon pace would look like. You simply can't go out full force when you have 20 miles ahead of you so the plan was to start off at a maintainable pace, pick it up in the mid miles a little, pick it up in the teens more, and then I could slow down towards then end or keep trucking if I felt good. This is the same plan for the marathon. IT WORKED!! My marathon partner (the one I can blame for talking me into this and is captured in this photo) and I started out with a similar plan but she hoped to run based on her heart rate and increase at similar increments as my pace. It happened, thank goodness, that her heart rate and my planned paces matched beautifully. Having a friend by my side was especially nice since it was raining the whole time. We started around 9:50 for three miles, picked up to 9:40 for a couple more, and then we coasted for about 5 on 9:20s before pushing the 9:15s and under. We even came under 9:00 for two of the miles! We did a great job of keeping ourselves in check with the pace ("not too fast now ladies, you have hours ahead of you. . .") and really enjoyed the race. I think this is quite an accomplishment--especially with pools in our shoes starting at mile 2 (yes, 10% in and we were soaked). Thank goodness my hat acted like an umbrella, I just had to tip my head and the water just streamed off:) Plus, we wanted to come in at 3:10 in order to be on target to test a marathon time of 4:10 and I crossed at 3:08 (3:07 watch time) and my partner was a minute ahead of me.

I have never been so proud of myself! It felt so good and I can certainly see myself pacing for another hour of running with the 8 weeks of training left (oh, boy!). Plus, I have to give a shout out to my running club--these New Englanders have overwhelmed me with their support. I received e-mails and facebook page messages before the race and tons after! I even had a faster Wicked runner give me a much needed hug at the end of the race--ok, I might have looked like I needed a little support standing as my legs were on auto pilot. You would think I already ran the marathon. This has me even more psyched for the marathon and I just can't wait. All now is some more long runs and mostly keeping myself healthy! That said, this is now R and R week for me and I am tired! I can tell my body needs a rest--nighty night:)