Ten miles anyone?

I'm writing this morning snuggled up under a down blanket from the comfort of my couch - windows are wide open letting in the crisp, cool autumn air. I'd love to be out running this morning but my body is telling me that it needs to rest and I'm listening because I know I've been pushing it the last two weeks and I will continue to ask it to perform for at least another month, if not more.
Yesterday morning we drove down to Lynchburg, VA, for the Genworth Virginia 10-miler. I'd won a contest on Facebook from Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine and decided, why not?! This was my first visit to Lynchburg and I was very impressed by the revitalization of the city. . .definitely want to plan another visit. I hadn't really thought through the logistics of making the 3-hour trip in time for the 8:00am start until earlier in the week, like Monday. Mid-week I decided to utilize the networking site, Couchsurfing.com, to find a place to stay Friday evening and had a plan to stay with two very generous Liberty grad students (no snickering, please) who accepted my request with such short notice. Friday afternoon those plans changed and well, we set the alarm for 3:00am and were out the door by 3:30am. . .I barely remember the drive down even though I was wide awake. We arrived at 6:30am just in time for race day packet-pickup and secured a prime parking space only a short walk from the start/finish area. I hadn't realized that this race is a pretty big deal in the area; there were roughly 4,000 people signed up to either run the 10-miler, the 4-miler or walk the 4-miler. There were corporate teams of walkers in matching shirts and kids toeing the line (the 4- & 10-milers started together). The course consisting of 'rolling hills' put to shame our 'rolling hills' here in FBG - this was a tough course and I am proud of my effort. The first 1.5 miles is downhill and I felt out of sorts until I reached the mile marker and realized I was running at about a 8:30 min/mile pace. At that point I realized that if I didn't get smart I was not going to finish this race. I reigned myself in, listened to my body (mostly the part of me that was overheating) and ran my own race by running where I could and walking the hills when I felt that I was overexerting myself. . . until the last 1.5 miles where I put my head down and powered up the infamous hill at the finish (that nearly did me in at the start) passing many, many people along the way. I surprised myself (and T-) by finishing up in 1:35:11. . .He was still eagerly watching for me to finish when I found him minutes later.
As I lay here this morning I am still in amazement that this body continues to perform at this level. My performance in Erie was unexpected but wasn't earth shattering; my legs were fresh and the weather was perfect so why shouldn't I run a time that is normal for me? And even though I'd set the goal to run 50 miles last weekend (as Tony and Bill said, I invited too many people to my party). . . the fact that I actually did it still amazes me. This past week has been relatively pain/discomfort free now that the blisters on the bottom of my feet have subsided and I've had a couple really good morning runs. My performance yesterday is a prime example of mind over body; sure my legs were tired and and I was overheating but the lesson I learned in Prince William Forest last weekend is that this body is strong. . . glad my brain is coming around.


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