Saturday: A Long Run Recap

Today was supposed to be my long run day for the week. My longest run ever. It still was, but I'll get to that in a bit.

I fueled and hydrated well yesterday & went to bed around 10. My alarm was set for 5:30 with the plan to be out the door by 6:15. I slept like crap & was awake a good hour before my alarm went off. Good thing, too, because when it went off, there was no sound. Silly cat probably hit the volume dial again.

I got up & headed downstairs for my usual long-run breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal & 1/2 a Greek yogurt. I got dressed, stretched a little & checked the weather again. I was ready to go.



You see, the weather report was for rain with storms beginning around 10:00. I was prepared to run in the rain-was looking forward to it even. My timing would work & I'd be done with my run before the storms started. Only, weather folks are often wrong. About 10 min before leaving the house, massive storms hit. I checked the radar and saw this:




Crud. I got mad, bitched on twitter & Facebook, and also discovered my friend Keith's relay (his team was 110/200 miles in) and my friend Angie's tri were called because of the weather. I felt like a jerk for complaining about my training run when they were out so much more.

I crawled back into bed & at 9:30 was awoken by this:


Angie was calling to tell me the sun was shining & to get my ass out of bed & do my run. She made a good point, tomorrow's weather could be crap too & then I'd be doing 17 miles on a treadmill. So, I got dressed again & ate a small granola bar & the rest of my yogurt. I didn't have anything to drink. This would prove to be a problem.

I headed out and, while it was relatively cool, the rain had jacked up the humidity. I made it to my first stop at just under 5 miles & refilled my water bottle. (I'd consumed about 6-7 oz of nuun and 1-2 sport beans.) I headed back out & had a gu at mile 5, taking a good 1/2 mile to get it in. Around mile 6 I tweeted I was really tired already. Around 8 miles my stomach was a mess. I made it home at about the 10 mile point & used the bathroom & refilled another water bottle. Total water/nuun at this point about 16-20 oz.

I headed back out to finish the last 7 on the trails by my house. My legs felt like lead & the heat was way up. I ate another gu & drank several oz of water, which resulted in some nice stomach cramps. 1.5 miles down the trail & I knew I was going to run out of water. I called M and asked him to hop on his bike & bring me more water. I ran a little, walked a little (ok, a lot) and he finally caught up with me. I refilled & kept going. I walked a ton in those last 5 miles. I ate another gu around mile 14-15. I drank lots of water.  Every time I stopped to walk, my legs rebelled and it was hard to start running again.

With 1/2 a mile to go, Miley Cyrus's "The Climb" shuffled in and I spent the last 1/2 mile crying. I finished & bawled. IDK why exactly. This run was so hard. So much harder than I thought it would be. But, it was done.



I took the obligatory 17 mile picture with D's hands for help & a fake smile on my face. I was not happy with this run.  It hurt.  A lot.  It was painfully slow.



I spent some time in a cold bath and my legs felt a little better. But, life goes on & I had plans so I couldn't sit in there and cry for long. I showered, made myself presentable (which was very difficult since my legs didn't really want to hold me up). I met a friend at the movies & we saw this:



There is something about the music of Glee that just makes me smile. I'm glad I had these plans or else I would have probably wallowed at home all afternoon. Instead, I was reminded to "Don't Stop Believing" Glee style.  I finally had a smile on my face.

I will trust my training. I will cross that marathon finish line in October. Left foot, right foot, lather, rinse, repeat.

I would LOVE your help in getting across that finish line.  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing that finish line.  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the chance to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.