Long Beach City Manager’s 10 Mile Race Recap 2017

 

It’s Tuesday already! Doesn’t that feel nice?

Let’s talk about Sunday’s 10 mile race. I ran the City Manager’s 10 Mile Race To Remember in Long Beach, NY. This was my second time running this race and second time I will recap it saying it was hot!

Pre-Race:

The race was set to start at 8:00 am. I wanted to leave my house at 6:15 am (I like to be early) because I needed to pick up my number and run my warm up.

I was up after 4:00 am so that I could take my time drinking my coffee and water and eating my oatmeal. My oatmeal was made with a mix of steel cut oats, old-fashioned rolled oats, a little bit of banana, a lot sea salt, cinnamon, a drop of maple syrup, and a spoon of peanut butter.

It only took me 20 minutes to get down to Long Beach (no traffic). I had plenty of time to select my parking spot, pick up my bib, use the bathroom and run my warm up.

In case you were wondering, Long Beach is one of Long Island’s barrier islands. One side is the Atlantic Ocean and one side is the bay. You can clearly see this on my GPS screen.

It was already about 65 degrees and sunny before 8:00 am which was nice if you weren’t running and a little scary if you were about to partake in a race. I wasn’t too nervous at this point because I was happy to be outside by the beach. Number pick up was quick so I ran an easy mile or so from the bay side to the boardwalk where I hung out for a bit.

Miles 1 – 4:

So the start line is really informal in that there are no pace groups telling you were to line up. It’s a small, friendly race atmosphere and everyone looked so happy and relaxed.

Perhaps if there were pace signs, I wouldn’t have started out so fast though. I put myself too far up at the start I think, not realizing.

The thing is, I didn’t feel as though I was going too fast until I saw the first mile pace clock. I was pretty boxed in and not really running so fast, or so I thought.

7:33. Yikes. This was way faster than planned.

While I was tracking my mileage with Runkeeper, my phone was in my pocket so I was not looking at it for the entire race!

I felt good so I continued under the impression that I was easing up although I really didn’t at this point.

I knew the boardwalk was approaching which, end to end, would be a 2.2 mile run. The good thing about running Long Beach is that I have run the boardwalk SO MANY TIMES in both races and weekend long runs.

We were on the boardwalk until somewhere after the 4 mile mark. I felt okay until getting off the boardwalk.

Going from super sunny on the boardwalk to running down the ramp into what was a little bit less sun did not make me feel well. In fact, the transition made me start to feel slightly dizzy with that feeling of uh oh, I am not so sure I feel okay.

I slowed down, grabbed water and opened my Hammer Gel. I took a sip from the gel and then DROPPED IT while trying to place it back in my pocket! Ugh.

No big deal I figured. I still had my jelly beans and it was only 10 miles, I could run without fuel for this race.

Miles 5 – 7:

At this point I was HOT. I was even feeling noticeably cold while still knowing I was hot so this was not a good thing. I slowed for every single water stop and didn’t care. Sure, it affects your time but do you want to risk your well-being to run faster than you should in hot weather? I easily grabbed water at 10 water stops throughout the course.

If you know me, you know I do not like to get wet. However, I ran under two sprinklers and dumped water down my shirt too!

At mile 7, I questioned how it is I ever run 13.1 miles because going another 6 seemed insane. It’s at this point that I was in awe of my half marathon PR – how did I ever do that? Running is hard stuff.

Miles 8 – 10:

I laughed at my prior thinking that I would be able to pick up my pace for the last two miles. HA HA.

I am just lucky I didn’t slow more than I did! And then, when I was actually finding a good rhythm for the last two miles, of course my son called me. I didn’t answer but I swear, I told him yesterday – PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME. I WILL CALL YOU WHEN AS SOON AS I FINISH. DO NOT EXPECT ME BEFORE 9:20 AM.  He called me at like 9:11 as I was approaching mile 9. Really? He thinks he is funny. Not funny.

My phone ringing interrupted my thought process but whatever, I wasn’t winning the race anyway.

As I made my way to approach the finish line, there was a person ahead of me being held up on both sides because he couldn’t walk. He might have collapsed and they were carrying him to the finish line? I don’t know but it was scary.

See, I knew it was important to stop at all of the water stops and slow my pace!

I looked up as I was crossing the finish line and the clock said 1:24:06. They don’t adjust the times so my guess is that I finished somewhere in the 1:23:xx range. Slower than I hoped but hey, I did the best I could.

The last two miles got cut off but they were 8:44 and 8:51! So much for speeding up at the end!

I grabbed several cups of water plus a bottle of water at the finish line before walking to my car where I had nice, cold watermelon waiting for me. 🙂

Overall Thoughts:

I have no complaints about the fact that my splits ended up positive. I truly did the best I could and the best I could involved slowing down in order to feel strong enough to keep going. It was really hot out there from the sun beating down — the heat and I do not get along so well.

If you ask me, I ran a smart race. I mean, I didn’t intend to start out so fast but overall, I ran smart by not pushing myself at times when I knew I needed to slow in order to feel strong enough to finish.

Running a race in warm weather is not an easy thing to do. It puts added pressure on the body so it’s really important to pay attention to the cues and not attempt to overdo it.

My legs felt really strong throughout the race. That’s the thing. I really felt strong and ready to run, it was the heat and exhaustion from heat that was taking over. It was a noticeable feeling. It was as if my legs were saying, let’s move! We have the strength and feel great! And the rest of me was holding back to survive.

I wore my sun visor which I think is a necessity when running a sunny race, especially in warm weather. I’m not too sure what would have happened had I not had it on to protect me from the sun glaring down the entire race. There is NO SHADE in Long Beach.

I don’t really think that dropping my gel mattered very much. I am sure I would have taken more from it but I can’t say that it would have given me any more life for the second half of the race.

Long Beach races are great. The course is flat (aside from ramps for the boardwalk), the parking is super easy and accessible and spectating a race isn’t complicated to navigate. The restaurants options for after the race, if you hang around, are great too.

What’s Next?

So there’s a 5 miles race Labor Day weekend in Long Beach. I have run that race twice (and placed second for my age one year!) but I don’t know at this point if I will run it. It’s possible.

Otherwise, next on my list is to pick a Fall half marathon. I am really interested in training with Laura again for a half in order to see if I can find 18 seconds to break my current half PR (1:45:18) and finish under 1:45.

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How was your weekend?! Any races or fun runs?

How do you handle running in the summer? Are you able to run races in the warm weather?

Do you live near a beach? Which one?