Today I tackled the second run on my summer list (I had a soccer game the night of the Zeeland Zoom…at the same time as the game): the Lakeshore Miracle 10K.
This was the second 10K I had ever run, and it was definitely a learning experience. My overall time for the run was somewhere around 1:17:32. Give or take a couple seconds. If they post the times online I’ll update it, but that’s what I’m sticking with for now. Given how things went, I’m pretty satisfied with the time, and I definitely have a goal to shoot for when I do it next year.
Here’s what I learned this morning…
Just because you did it once, it doesn’t mean you can do it on demand. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but I walked into this race feeling somewhat confident that I’d do well. Certainly, I knew I wouldn’t beat my time for the River Bank Run, but I figured I’d at least not stop running. Even though I had been seriously slacking off when it came to working out, period, over the last couple of weeks, I ran 2 miles on Tuesday and did 4 with a backpack in the heat before a soccer game on Thursday, so I figured I could do 6.2 this morning. If it were on pavement, this would have been a piece of cake.
The Lakeshore Miracle 10K is called the hardest 10K you’ll ever love. Why is it so hard? Well, aside from the 500- and 1000-foot dunes we had to climb, the run snaked through trails, edged along the lake, and, yes, featured two killer dunes. Running in the sand, if you’ve never done it, is much, much harder than running on trails or running on pavement. Of the three, pavement is my favorite, but I am simply not in anywhere near good enough shape for running in the sand. I stopped to walk most of the beach, and definitely walked my way up both dunes. There was simply no running up those.
Be smart about hydrating. In perhaps one of my less-wise decisions last night, I went to a couple bars with some friends last night, and when I woke up this morning I wanted to make sure I was good and hydrated. It was pushing 75 or so by the time the race started, and I felt like I was in pretty good shape hydration-wise. I grabbed a cup of water when we passed the first table, but it was in the woods and the shade and I didn’t think much of it. Then I got out on the sand and had to climb those hills, and by the time I hit the top of the dune I stopped and drank a ton of water. That was a mistake.
Finally…
Be ready to have terrible things happen to those nice $100 shoes. My Brooks are only about 4 months old, and they were nice and shiny and awesome when I started running in them.
I knew I would get sand in them from running on the beach, but what I hadn’t anticipated was getting them wet. After running a half mile on the beach, though, I started looking for the path of least resistance, and in most cases, that was right along the edge of the water. And occasionally in the water. My shoes got pretty soaked, and they’re probably going to need a few days to dry, but I’m betting (hoping?) that they’ll be fine.
Overall though, it was an awesome race. Especially the sprint at the end. There’s nothing quite as good as reaching deep down inside and using that last bit of energy to just completely fly across the finish line.
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