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Ok, getting up at 2:45am on a Saturday morning to drive to a race 150 miles away is not most people’s idea of fun, and I must admit heading west on I-64 in driving rain and blustery winds I nearly thought the same thing myself. Nearly being the key word.

I knew this was the last scheduled weekend for a long run before the Marine Corps Marathon, and I thought it would be good to (a) run with a bunch of people for a change and (b) attempt to race at marathon goal pace (a rather ambitious 6:30/mile). It seemed like a good idea at the time anyway.

The closer we got to our destination, the colder it got. The temperature dropped from 69 degrees in Virginia Beach to 50 in Spotsylvania, and the NE wind made it feel even colder. Anyway, I’d arrived at packet pickup and race time was fast approaching. It was nice to see a few familiar faces - Kevin and RP from KaleRunning.com who were timing the race, and Allen and Ada from TriDuo.com land of plenty free download who were taking photos of the race

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. Before I knew it, it was 7:05am and almost time to walk/jog down to the race start about 3 blocks away.

With less than 200 runners at the starting line it was never going to be a crowded race, but I was amazed when I found myself isolated within the first half mile. The two guys in the front quickly opened up a gap on me, and as I glanced behind I saw the 4th place person some way behind already. Maybe I was wrong about running with a bunch of other people for 20 miles??

First mile was comfortable in 6:42. The course was gently rolling and it was nice to surge the ups and cruise the downs. By mile 4, I’d caught and passed the 2nd place guy, and found myself in no man’s land - a good 60-90 seconds behind the leader who seemed to be going away from me with every stride.

I won’t bore with you with the details, but it was quite a lonely run from this point on. Aside from seeing a few people at the water stops and Allen & Ada Lester taking photos, it was just me against the clock - trying to stay as consistent as possible on the rolling hills. Running through the battlefields on a gravel trail was probably the highlight of the race and inspired me to a 6:01 10th mile. For some reason, it felt so good to be off the main roads - maybe I should take up trail running? The only hiccup was at mile 14 - an unmarked intersection which caused some confusion. I had to double-back to the water stop to check which way to go, losing maybe a minute in time and a little momentum, but I took my frustration out on the course and pushed for home.

The last 5 miles were tough but quite uneventful. After the race, several people commented on the tough climb at mile 17, but I honestly don’t remember it being bad at all. I muust have been right in “the zone” and focused on the finish. It was a relief to turn for home and see the finish line after a tricky 90 degree turn, and I was surprised at how fresh I felt crossing the line in 2:08:09.

I wore my Garmin 305 for the race, mainly to check my mile splits and have an online record of the event. Total distance at the finish was 20.28 miles which was inline with the race director’s statement that this year’s (changed) course was approximately 20.3 miles.

Mile splits as follows:
6:42 6:21 6:20 6:15 6:21 6:12 6:32 6:25 6:26 6:01 (1:03:35 - 10 miles)
6:26 6:18 6:15 6:12 6:21 6:17 6:20 6:19 6:15 6:03 (1:02:46 - 10 miles)
1:37 (0.28 miles)

What I do find amazing is to think my 10 mile PR is 1:04:52 (set at the F.O.P. 10 Miler in 1999), and I’d just beat that twice in one race. Roll on the next 10 Miler!

Anyway, all in all, Stonewall Jackson was a great, low-key, no frills race on a challenging, but enjoyable course. Great tune-up for a fall marathon (in my case Marine Corps) or as a tough training run in it’s own right. Oh yes, I also won $50 for placing 2nd overall - my first ever cash prize money…..

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 8th, 2006 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.