Okay.. Today's run was really difficult for me. My 12 last week was great, so I was sure my 14 this week would be pretty good, but there was something off, and it didn't go as well as I'd wanted it to.
We started off at 8:30 am after a great, restful night's sleep. The weather seemed nice. We were on the All American (wild dog) Trail again. That was the part of the run that was the same, but almost everything else was different. I'm not sure if any one, or a combination of all of these differences made the route so difficult. But I do know that I'll be going back to my good old ways next week.
Last week I ran the west side (5 miles) of the trail first, then the east side (7 miles). I thought this week I'd change it up and do the east side first (6 miles) then the west side (8 miles). Miles 8-11 this week were just a lot of hills. I wasn't prepared for them, because I hadn't seen them last week since my west side distance was shorter last week.
I also changed my refueling timing. I've always re-fueled at miles 5, 10. But I wanted to try and see if I could do re-feuling the same times that will be offered at the marathon, which are 7, 13, 17, 23. So I waited till 7 miles to "do the gu." I was okay up until that point, but looking back, I think it would have been better to stay ahead of the energy game rather than waiting until I was depleted and then trying to catch up. At mile 10, my energy was gone. All gone. And then I wanted to eat my beans. My body was used to getting energy at mile 10, and it didn't get it. I had to stop and stretch out a persistant side ache around mile 11. It was less than a minute stop, and I gave myself a good pep-talk to channel some positive energy. I couldn't wait until mile 13 to eat my beans. By mile 12, I took a quick walk break (backtracked so I didn't walk any of the 14) and ate half my beans. It was only 1/2 a mile later and I did another quick stop and ate the other half. By then my water was gone. I called Mr. and had him meet me at mile 13 1/2 with more water and gatorade.
It was the best place in the world for him to be. He was at the top of the longest, hardest hill on the course. I was at the bottom and I looked up and saw him waving the magical gatorade bottle at me. It was the only thing that got me up that silly hill. I kept running and sloshed gatorade into my mouth while he re-filled my water bottle. I had pink snot when I got home. I guess I was trying to inhale it up my nose too!
Another thing that I think got me off my groove was that at around mile 8, my mp3 went out. The batteries went out at mile 6, but it was right next to the car, and I had a spare with me. So I put that "new" battery in at mile 6, and I was very cranky when it went out again at mile 8. Obviously, it wasn't a new battery. I spent a good 1/2 a mile trying to get it to work...thinking it couldn't be the battery. I even tried the raido (surprise...no radio stations out on wild dog trail). I think at that point, it was warming up outside, I was listening to the rattle in my waterbottle (mr. accidently poured another waterbottle's lid into it when he filled it at mile 6), and my radio going out kind of messed with my head. It was the beginning of the end for me. Little did I know all of those sandhills were still ahead for 2 miles out at 2 more miles back.
I did run the full 14. I had a potty break at 6, gu at 7, stretch break at 11, beans breaks at 12 and 12 1/2. My time for the last few miles is really sucky. But I promise, it's all I had in me.
One fun thing about the run...the end of it! When we got back to the car, we got to talk to the running group that was there last week-end. MTC (Magnum Track Club) is the name of their group. Free club, but in order to be a member, you have to run the 15 mile course from the town of Magnum to ----(can't remember). If you successfully run it, then you get a t-shirt and you're a lifetime member. Sounds do-able after a few more weeks of training. I was a bit intimidated when I saw that a few of the vehicles with the MTC sticker also had Ultra stickers on them. But the people we talked to were super nice. They even invited us to come to a 24 hour run next Saturday. I'll never run for 24 hours, but I do have 16 miles on the docket, and it might be fun to do with a lot of people there. It's just a 1.5 mile loop around a lake. I'd need to do 11 loops. I'm really thinking about it. It's at least 90 min away and starts at 8 am. I'm keeping my options open and maybe we'll be there next Saturday. I won't be logging 24 hours, but I'll get a t-shirt :-)
Here's my splits: 9:29, 9:55, 10:03, 9:26, 9:45, 10:21, 10:07, 9:44, 10:19, 10:12, 9:53, 10:42, 10:52, 11:05. Like I said, those last 3 miles were tough....
Oh a happier note: Greek Festival was awesome! Baklava, the tasty treats that look like huge shredded wheat, evil eye jewelry, oil paintings, lamb & chicken gyros, grape leaves stuffed with rice, spinach & cheese in flaky pasty. Goooooood stuff Maynard! | 