Today's theme was "stick with the plan" and I did. Since this was technically a "training" run for MCM, I had decided ahead of time to go with 8/2 run/walk rather than trying to stay in a strict Z2. No winging it, no changing things around halfway through, just stick with the 8/2's.

There is some winding around historic Leesburg in the first mile, then it's out to the Washington and Old Dominion trail for the rest of it. Within the first mile, I was tested on sticking with the plan. :) My friend Hollis caught up to me (and blew by) just as I hit the 8 minute mark. Tempting as it was to keep going and chat, I knew I'd probably regret it later, so I waved and told her I was doing 8/2's and I'd see her somewhere at the finish.

Once we were on the trail, it was gorgeous. Sunny day but the trail is pretty shaded so you just have all these spots of sunlight coming through the trees. First two and a half miles were pretty uneventful, and then it got a little insane for the next mile. This is a 10K and 20K event, so at this point we've got the fast 10K folks already on their way back, the trail isn't super wide and there are just people everywhere. Seemed really crowded to me, mainly because of the folks coming back on the 10K side, but once we passed the 10K turnaround, things really thinned out nicely.

At the second(?) water stop, I grabbed some Gatorade and took a look off to my left - there was a break in the trees and all this beautiful rolling countryside and farms and horses having their breakfast. I stepped off the trail and just stopped to enjoy the view for a few seconds. Then remembered I had this running thing going on and got back to work.

Miles 4 and 5 were slower, but I'd gone out a bit too quick on mile 1, so I wasn't surprised. I was really getting into the groove on the 8/2 and liking it a lot. It was also nice to see other folks doing the same thing. One gal I was with for a while was doing 10/1's and there was a group of women that were doing 5/1's.

A little past 6.5 miles was the turnaround. WOOHOO! I was starting to think it didn't exist. :) (Note to self, take a closer look at the course map next time.) I danced around the cone and headed back to Leesburg.

The problem I encountered running on the trail is the lack of any real landmarks - you've just got a very long stretch of tree lined trail in front of you for quite some time. It made it very hard for me to try and gauge where I was from a visual standpoint since everything looked the same. Even with the Garmin & the mile markers I found it to be somewhat disorienting.

Somewhere around mile 8 I hit a bit of a wall. I didn't feel *bad*, but I was going really slow and I knew it and it felt like I just couldn't speed up even if I wanted to. It was nice to be able to remind myself of a couple of things: all I had to do was slog through until the interval timer went off and then I could walk, and second, there was only a bit more than 4 miles to go, and that's really not that hard. That perked me back up and the pace improved again.

I vaguely recall going through the mile 10 marker and being very happy that I was still under 2 hours. And that I had less than a 5K to go. :)

During mile 11 it happened. Nope, not a wall - runner's high. (Or I just hit full on delirium, one of the two.) I wasn't exactly speedy by any means, but everything just felt perfect and wonderful and nothing hurt and it was just like I'd gone on cruise control or something. Really, really cool.

Somewhere along the line on the way back I hear someone say, "Hey Cindy!" and I am trying to figure out who is talking to me and who it is. It's Ernie, riding on the trail! Of course, this happens when I am walking, but honest, I was sticking to the plan!

Finally it's mile 12 and we're off the trail and back into Leesburg. Now, I wasn't dead last, there *were* still people behind me, but the volunteers had started to disappear and thank goodness for a couple other runners that were hanging out along the way cheering folks on that could assure us that yes, we were in fact headed the right direction. Over a bridge, around a corner and the finish line! Nothing in the tank for a sprint, but stumbled in laughing with "slowest 20K ever!!" as they called out my name.

Nothing - I stuck with my plan, and I felt great.

Found my friend Hollis, grabbed a soda and cheered in the rest of the finishers. Won a t-shirt in the door prize drawings! Then we headed out for breakfast.


When you're just slow, you're just slow. ;)


Very pretty course, well organized.