I don't recommend preparing for a 10 mile race in this fashion: First, the day before run 14 miles at marathon pace(for me that's 9min miles). Then, wear your contacts too long and irritate your eyes to the point that they're swollen and painful. Schedule a swing band gig the night before and play your trombone until 11pm. Get home at about 1am. Get up at 3am and have your husband drive you 3 hours to the race(at least that part was smart). Try to sleep in the car. Pick the hilliest 10 mile road race in Virginia. Take some Excedrin to try and get the swelling out of your eye and the headache right above the eye (the little boost of caffeine doesn't hurt either). Now for the race strategy: Take advantage of the down hill in the beginning and start too fast (7:35 mile 1). Now settle into your normal hilly pattern - pant, wheeze, huff and puff to get up the hill, then sprint down the other side trying to gain momentum to get up the next hill. Get passed on the uphills and pass back on the down hills. At mile 4 don't get too discouraged when the 4 mile racers turn off to go to their finish line. After all, you're almost half way. Ignore the mile splits being called out. Sure you're at 39 minutes at mile 5, but you've got a mile and half hill to climb at the end of the race. Run next to someone who has your same first name and is from the town. When the crowd yells "Go Susan!" pretend they're cheering for you. Take a few seconds to walk through the aid stations and drink some Gatorade. Okay, so it made you nauseous the first time, but now your legs are wanting to cramp. Keep pushing at mile 8 when the legs really start to bother you. Don't look for the top of the hill when you begin that last climb, you're going to be here a while. And don't look at your Garmin, you don't want to know what your pace is. Talk to your legs for the last quarter mile, tell them not to freeze up or go numb. Threaten to drag them kicking and screaming across the finish line. Don't worry about the other people passing you, just get it done. Rejoice when you see the finish time: 1:26:33. Realize you didn't run the tangents and ran 10.13 miles instead of only 10 with an average pace of 8:32. Be proud you put 100% into a race and left nothing on the table. Feel empowered as it says in Philippians 4:13(Amplified):
I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who [a]infuses inner strength into me; I am [b]self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].
Smile.
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