Historic Clarksburg 20 Mile Race Recap

This past weekend, I ran a personal distance record of 20 miles.  I was SUPER nervous and excited about this race distance.  Not only will it be the first time I run beyond 18 miles… but it will also be a training run in a race format.  Essentially it was like a dress rehearsal to my full marathon in less than a month.

I will admit that before the race I got mental.  I was worried I would fail my friend Tiffany who has selflessly helped virtual train me for the marathon.  I was worried I would fail my girlfriends who I was running with because they are rocking their training at a much faster pace than me.  I was honestly focusing on everything that would give me an excuse to FAIL and not SUCCEED.

I had a game plan of running this race as a dress rehearsal for the full marathon.  Yet, also treat it like a long training run.  I was going to attempt to run a negative split.  I wanted to focus on fuel and hydration to feel how my body responded during the race. I wanted to run a comfortably challenging smart race… finish strong… finish happy… finish healthy… finish knowing that I could run another 10K if the race continued.

I took off my blogger hat for this race.  I didn’t’ take mental notes of when I fueled, water breaks or even stopped to use the restroom.  I didn’t take photos of the beautiful course and the fall foliage (even though I so wanted to).

Instead, I enjoyed running the first 13 miles with two of my girlfriends.  We ran a comfortable pace.  We talked the entire time and laughed out loud often.  Our run strategy was to walk each water stop (and refill our waters each time because it was warm).  We walked each fuel stop (every 4 miles).  We even stopped/slowed down to use the bathroom at a port-a-potty mid race (that was a first for me… as I have never stopped to pee during a race).

If you are interested in reading how my first 20 miler went, and the details (that I can remember) of it… feel free to check it out below.  Again, thanks for supporting and following me in my journey to become a marathoner.

I ran the first half of the race with my girlfriends Tammy and Christina.  We tried to hold it back the first half of the race… yet I will be honest, the race excitement got to us.  The pace felt good and comfortable.  We ran, chatted and did our best to keep it at a conservative pace.  As we crossed the mile 4 marker we stopped to power walk and take in fuel.  My fuel was a honey stinger gel.

After our fuel was consumed we resumed running.  The unfortunate part of our fuel plan is that the water stops did not jive with our fuel breaks.  We walked often… but it worked and was a great mental release.

Somewhere in these miles we refilled water, stopped to use a port-a-potty mid race, and fueled again at mile 8.  Again, I didn’t take mental notes during the race and did my best to enjoy the running journey (instead of being a blogger).  I do know that when we crossed mile 8, we walked to fuel (as our strategy).  I fueled with an island boost gel and 1 honey stinger chew.

The next few miles were still fun.  The girls and I were still in good spirits and laughing.  We shared stories and were high fiving other mother runners on the course.  We stopped to refill our water in these miles as well as fueled when we crossed mile 12.  I fueled with another honey stinger gel.

Mile 13 was my slowest mile.  I do not remember exactly what happened.  I know we stopped to refill water.  Maybe the volunteers took a bit longer to refill water.  Maybe I just was feeling good and really wanted to follow my plan of increasing my speed from this point on (just a little) instead of a steady pace.  I don’t know.  But at that point in the run, I began my solo run.

The next few miles were solo but amazingly awesome.  I found my comfortable pace and just enjoyed God’s beautiful artwork with the fall foliage, the runners around me, and the country setting.  At mile 14ish I refilled my water bottle and decided this was a great time to plug in my music.  This took me a while as I had to get my phone out, connect bluetooth, and start my play list.

At mile 15, I tried a power gel the race provided.  I was told it was full of sodium (and I was sweating buckets and a salty mess).  I was going to give it a go and prayed I had no stomach complications.  I wasn’t too concerned with my mile splits at this point.  However, I wanted to run a comfortably challenging pace (without injuring myself).

Throughout the remainder of the race I chewed on honey stinger chews as needed.  There was no race strategy, but more of a by feel method.  I think I took a chew every mile the duration of the race.

I think there was a water refill stop at mile 17.  That was my last water refill of the race (as I did not stop again at the last water stop).  My plan was that once I hit mile 17, I was going to increase my pace just a little.  Keeping it comfortable, but challenge myself to see if I could do it.  It was kind of funny the last few miles of this race, I had a positive mental attitude.  I kept thinking, “It is only x miles to go.” or “30 more minutes”.  I totally had faith and confidence in my training, my body and my ability to finish strong.

I will admit, I remember someone saying that once you hit mile 18 it is a whole new world.  They told me it would be hard.  When I hit mile 18 that thought came to mind… but I shoved it off because I felt great and knew that I could continue strong.  Positive mental attitude is KEY for endurance races (a fun fact I learned).

The last few miles of the race were really fun.  I was jamming out to my inspirational Christian running mix.  I was thanking God for my healthy lungs, legs, and heart.  Thanking Him for the ability to run.  It was my own little church worship session in the middle of a race.  It was pretty awesome.

I also got a moral boost as I was nearing the finish line and was approaching other runners (from the half marathon).  I loved encouraging them as we got closer to the finish line.  You are doing awesome!  Almost there!  Keep it up!  those words of encouragement out of my mouth to others reaffirmed my own “doing great, awesome, keep it up!”

I was feeling great and continued to increase my pace toward the finish line.  I ran in to the finish at a comfortable pace.  Finishing strong.  The last few miles were ran at a negative split.  I was happy.  I even convinced my friend Yvonne to run a cool down mile with me post run.  That extra mile helped affirm that I could indeed run further than the 20 in preparation for the 26.2.

If sweaty is sexy… SALTY must be super sexy!  It was so warm that I was a salty mess.  My face was caked in a thick layer of sexy, sweaty, salt!  My race outfit was a tank from Athleta, capris from Puma, and my shoes were Saucony Kinvara3.

I am so blessed to run with some amazingly strong mother runners!  Check out that group of beautiful women I have the honor and privilege to call friends!  I love my mother runner friends!  I love that I am able to run and experience the joy (and struggle) of training for our first full marathon together.  They are pretty special to me.

Post race, I fired up my Vitamix blender and enjoyed a chocolate banana shakeology.  I love how this simple nutrient dense shake has all the nutrients and properties to replenish all the vitamins that I used up on my run!  Tastes good.  Good for you.  Good stuff!

So here I type up my race recap.  Monday morning.  Veterans Day.  My boys are wild and crazy like normal.  I am feeling great.  No soreness.  My ankles are a bit stiff from the uneven road we ran on… but other than that I feel amazing!  Ready to tackle 26.2 in less than a month!

Thank you for reading, supporting, and keeping me accountable and honest with my training!  I appreciate YOU!