Champoeg 30k- 3 PR's in one race!

Well, I am not even sure if I am going to remember everything from Saturday, but I am going to try. Everything just seemed to come together for this race. We didn't really get a warmup so that made me a little nervous but I didn't plan on starting too fast. There were 4 of us starting together- Jen (my awesome Wednesday running buddy! She is super fast but had been sick so wasn't sure of her plan.), Travis (he is running PNW and has the same BQ time of 3:40), and Annie, who was just there for a run. She planned on staying with us. I told them my plan of 8:20's, 8:10's, 8's. My biggest thing is not starting out too fast. Our first mile of 8:12 was a little faster than planned, but not crazy fast. Next mile was 8:24 so that was good and then we just got movin'! My heart rate was doing great and I felt amazing so I decided to just go with it. If my heart rate started getting too high I would drop back.

First 10k- 50:10  Well, that was my goal for the 2nd 10K. I wasn't sure how to feel about this lap. I was feeling good, so again just decided to pay attention to heart rate and go with it. I felt like I had tapered better this week so I was hoping my legs wouldn't get tired.

2nd 10k- I was in a rhythm and feeling good and actually ran this one faster! Did this lap in 49:29 and I was still feeling pretty good. My heart rate was still in the 180's.

3rd 10k- I knew I was planning on giving it all I had on the last lap, but it is still hard to mentally know that it is going to stink for 50minutes! The good news was that I knew I could still PR even if I slowed down a little. I realized that I could "PR" in the half distance and get my 1:45 half if I sped up just a little so I did that and pushed lap when I hit 13.1 miles. It said 1:45:20- definitely a PR and definitely a confidence booster for my marathon! Especially knowing I did it in the middle of a 30k. So, now it was time to focus on the last 5.5 miles of my race. I slowed down a tad bit but my heart rate was already edging toward 190. That is my zone of no return. I kind of wanted to wait until the last 5k to be in that range. I had an 8:15 in there. I took it slow on the hill up before the turnaround and then tried to start flying. Unfortunately, my legs decided they were tired. I could definitely tell I was at the end of the race. Still had 3.1 miles. Ran an 8:24 and started getting nervous I was going to lose my PR. About 1.5 miles from the end I decided there was no way I was losing my PR. I pushed through the pain to average sub 8 for the last 2 miles and finished in 2:30:08, that is over a 2 minute PR! Woo hoo!! It was hard and I was super emotional at the end but I am so proud of my race and my time. I really do think it is the best race I have ever run. I started faster than planned but I really wanted to see what I could do!

Things I learned-
1. I am faster than I thought! Yeah!
2. Speedwork does work.
3. I am mentally stronger than I thought and can push through some pain.
4. The 190's really are my edge. I want my marathon to stay below 190 as long as possible. I used to think until the last 10k. Now I would like to do it until the last 5k if possible! :-)
5. Boston really is a possibility!