Long Run and More

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve gone further than I’ve ever run before. What an adventure!

It all started Saturday morning at 3:50 am. That’s what time my alarm went off. At 4:30 am four of us were off and running. We ran the first 4 miles at a nice slow pace and worked our way back to the fitness center. We met up with another two runners and headed out for the final 10. Again, the pace was nice and steady. It was a cool morning - lower 60’s - so that made it even better. We arrived at our water break at the 9 mile mark. We fueled up and headed back out for the final 5. I felt pretty good overall. I think the excitement of going this distance was giving me strength.

We stopped again for water just before mile 12. After we started back up, I began to feel tired. My legs were aching and I was struggling to maintain my form. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and continued moving forward. Our pace had quickened, as the more experienced runners told us that this is how one trains for a marathon. Oh my. I struggled keeping pace to the end. We finally turned the corner to the fitness center and my watch beeped 14 miles complete. I stopped running and my legs felt like Jell-O. Again, one foot in front of the other. My only thought at this point was “A marathon is another 12.2 miles??? What the hell am I thinking???” Ten minutes later, I was thinking, “Bring on the 16 miles in two weeks!”

Today was the usual, quick paced, 5 miler. I wasn’t sure about getting up at first. I was really tired from the weekend. I even went to bed early last night! But, I did drag my butt out of bed and made it to the high school by 5 am. The group went out together, but by the first mile those wanting to go fast were out ahead and those wanting to take it easy were behind. While I was running faster than I should have been going, I never felt like I was pushing too hard. I’ve come to really enjoy the challenge of Monday’s run, especially coming off the long run.

We’ll see if I still feel this way after 16 miles, 18 miles, 20 miles, etc.!