Today I rocked out a 16 mile long run which I tied into a 7 mile Island Run in Avalon, NJ. When I found out I was going to be in Avalon for Labor Day weekend the first thing I did was to check and see if there were any races. I was so excited to find out that there was! The Tim Kerr 7 Mile Island Run would be the perfect way to tie in my 16 mile long run I had planned for the holiday weekend.
It was a special race for me because it was my first time racing as a Brinkley!
Sadly, I forgot to pack my race camera with me this weekend so I took pictures sporadicly with my iPhone. But the fun part about my run today was that Aileen and I met and ran 9 miles BEFORE the race began. We met at 6:45 and planned to run the race route once plus an additional 2 miles before the race.
It was a perfect morning for a race – cool with a breeze. Running 9 miles before the race began made 16 miles seem so much easier. We ran 9 miles before the race and then we ran another 7 for the actual race. When you split the miles up it makes the long distance much more attainable. We ended up running the actual race course as a part of our first 9 miler – it was nice to see, but I wish we had ran it backwards to change up the scenery a bit.
Aileen and I planned our pre-race run perfectly and turned the corner to find the start line packed with people and the National Anthem being sung.
We barely had a minute to get in line before the guns were fired to cue our start!
There was a 5k and a 7 mile race being run today. This was actually my first 7 miler so it was fun to race a new distance! Automatic PR for me, right??
And then we were off! It was funny to see the mile markers go to 1, 2, 3, and 4 when for us it was actually 10, 11, 12 and 13 miles. I think some people must have thought Aileen and I were crazy for running with CamelBaks and busting out Shot Bloks! But we did what we had to do for our marathon training and eventually our remaining miles dwindled down to 2 and I knew we were home free!
I felt pretty good this race. I ran it a little faster and more consistently than I have been so it was good to push myself. I have been getting little bits of knee and ankle pains here and there so I am hoping its just the mileage adding up in my training from normal build-up and nothing too troublesome!
I was a bit bummed because 12 miles into our run my Garmin died! It was a bummer running the last 4 miles without knowing my pace or overall time. No results have been posted yet but I believe we ran the first 9 miles in about 1:30 and the second 7 in around 1:10 – a pretty solid 10min/mile pace throughout.
Another weekend, another race, another long run.
You got to love marathon training!
Did you do any races this weekend?
6 Comments
Congrats on your long run today… That is a great accomplishment. I really enjoy this event…TK Charities always put on great events. I came across your blog post looking for todays results. I was having difficulty finding the results but came across them at http://www.runningintheusa.com. Good luck as you continue your training….
Go girls! Is Aileen running the Marine Corps race too? Keep those knees and ankles healthy too! Looking forward too reading about your times.
Getting a race in on your vacation!?! Way to go 😀
Ooooh I love the idea of using a race as part of a long training run! Congrats – and your outfit is too cute! 🙂
Finding fun smaller races to do is one my favorite parts about training for a longer race! I hope you got a cool t-shirt.
Hi Leslie,
My name is Jane and I’m with Dwellable.
I was looking for blogs about Avalon to share on our site and I came across your post…If you’re open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Jane