Stayed up late Friday night because I was so excited that Terri was in town to run the 20 with me. I ate my soup and made oatmeal/whole wheat/flax seed cookies. Good stuff.
Woke up and had my regular breakfast and tried to drink some extra fluids.
The weather forecast was rainy and a little breezy, so I wasn't worried about being hot. Big mistake. It was just humid, no rain, and the sun seemed to beat down with a vengeance on us from miles 2-20. The shade of trees occasionally was a welcome break from the sun. There wasn't any escaping the humidity. It seemed to just sap our strength.
We ran a 7 mile loop, so every 7 we were back at the car for more water, gatorade, etc. I can't remember well enough to break it all down, but we started at a good pace, and ended up with a slower than expected pace.
I did my Gu at miles 5,10, 15. I think I would have liked to have had another one at mile 19, but I managed okay without. I did need extra gatorade and water the last 7 miles. I'm glad they have water & gatorade stops every other mile for the last few miles of the race. I'm sure I'll need it. At mile 18, I had some digestive problems. It wasn't good.
BUT...I did finish all 20 miles, and the great part was that I didn't get leg cramps after I was done. The increased sodium and the bananas 3 days in a row must have paid off.
I did have problems with the tops of my shoes feeling like they were too tight after mile 14. I had to unlace and release the tension on the top of my shoe a couple of different times. I guess this was due to my feet swelling?
Went out for steak dinner later Saturday. I ate too many rolls before my meal came out, and couldn't even finish the steak...but I like leftovers, so it's all good!
I think our overall time for 20 miles was 3:39. That's an average 11 mm. I'm blaming the heat and humidity. It was 87 degrees with 87% humidity. We ran from 10-2. It got overcast and cooled off as we were doing our cool down walk at the end. Go figure! | 