10 mile Clove Run race recap

The 10 mile Clove Run was this morning. And it was fantastic!  This is the 4th time I have run this race. The first time I ran it, I did the 5K. Then for the past 3 years, I have done the 10 mile race. It is a great training run for my October half and I can't seem to pull myself away from it. It is a small town race on beautiful country roads. And it is a race I really look forward to.

My plan for this race was to be a bit aggressive. After all, if I want to run a sub-two hour half marathon, I really needed to test out my speed on a long run. So - this was the perfect race to try it.

The Strong Running Mamas

When we arrived at the race, we ran into a bunch of the Strong Running Mama (SRM) group. We took a quick pic and chatted and got ready to line up.

The race started at 9 AM, and soon enough, we were off. My goal was to run a 9:10 pace. I know this is pretty much what I need to run for the half, so I felt like this was a good way to test out my pace.

The first three-four miles, I felt strong. I decided not to run with anyone, so it was just me, the country roads and my music.  I floated along and felt like my running was effortless.

Mile 1 - 8:52 pace
Mile 2 - 8:50 pace
Mile 3 - 8:58 pace
Mile 4- 9:05 pace

When I hit mile 5, I could tell I was starting to get a little bit tired. Just a little bit. I stopped at a water stop to gel.

Mile 5 - 9:19 pace

The gel must have helped because I got right back on pace.

Mile 6 - 9:02 pace

Then I got to the big hill. There are two major hills in this race. I knew in the back of my head that I would definitely be walking the two hills. And - I did. And it slowed me down a bit.

Mile 7 - 10:00 pace

But then I got back on track.

Mile 8 - 8:42 pace

Mile 9  - 8:24 pace (No idea where I pulled that from. I was digging deep!)

Mile 10  - 10:44 pace. You can probably tell that this was the 2nd major hill. And I walked it. It goes on forever. It is probably a good 1/3 of a mile.

Overall pace: 9:11. Right where I needed to be!!! How is that for being right on the money???

And the best part of the race...I placed third in my age group!!!! How about that? Yup. How about that! Who would have thought???

And the most important part was that I felt good. I pushed myself but didn't feel like I was going to die of exhaustion. And I think this proves that I really might be able to run sub-two hours for the Hudson Mohawk Half.

This race was hilly. The Hudson Half is flat and fast. So I really feel like if I could power through on this race, I can do the 13 miles in October with no major issues.

Felice, me, Elisa, Mary, and Karen - post race - all smiles!

My stats according to my watch (since the official results aren't on the web site at the time that I am writing this)

10.11 miles
1:32:53
Third in my age group
I believe I was 37th place out of 86 runners (if I remember correctly when they posted the results at the race today).

And let's not forget that this was a major PR for me! Last year's time was 1:42:24. So - I cut my time  by about 10 minutes!!!

You can say that I am still experiencing runner's high from today!