20 miles (!!!) in four parts

Twenty miles is freakin' far.

Not to state the obvious, but I just had to say it. For about the 82nd time today.

And then there's another 10K after this? My legs are still screaming; they have not yet forgiven me. And there's a good chance they won't til Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. But that's my fault because I haven't done all the good things, treat them right, after such an appallingly long run. It's been nine hours since I've completed this near-mythical distance for the first time. It's been about 1 hour since I've finally stopped running.

Okay... let's be clear. It's not that it took me nine hours to run 20 miles. But right after I finished, I had nonstop errands to do in advance of bridal shower I'm hosting for the cousin that's getting married a week after I complete Chicago. So there was no sitting down, extended stretching session, and certainly no ice bath. Of course, this all means I'll continue to pay for it tomorrow.

I have been thinking about this milestone run all week. I asked for running routes from the Running Room, I mapped out several courses across the city, trying to avoid as many hills as possible and making sure I was in for some scenery, and drank lots of water. I eventually decided on this route, with a turnaround at the 12mi mark, and I didn't bother mapping out the last 1-1/2 mile turnoff to home.

And then I broke it down into four parts. Because long distances need some kind of strategy applied, beyond Just Go. So it became Four 5-mile runs. And I asked Yumke to run on Saturday too, so that I'd have some company for part of it. Because, frankly, this was too much alone time. I figure it'd take me at least four hours to do this. Thankfully, he acquiesed to my request (something about liking to get this whole long run thing overwith). I asked Frankie to meet up somewhere along the way too, but he was sticking to his Sunday schedule.

In the end, while the four parts weren't broken up in 5-mile sections exactly, the four parts had their own characteristics and accompanying mood changes.

Part One: Left my house and did my usual head-to-the-beach route. Except for the first mile, I kept to a near-12 minute mile pace. I was feeling pretty good. I was a little cold, but at least there was no wind.

Part Two: Bumped into Yumke just as I was starting the next phase. I was going to follow my route. I was sure he'd catch up. He never did, and I was left to run through quite a depressing part of town, the very deserted port area. It didn't help that I didn't follow the trail, instead cutting across one of the decrepit roads. Which was woefully devoid of life. Eventually wound my way into the nice civilized part of the waterfront. Stopped at Yumke's condo for water.


Part Three: The best part of today's run. Enjoyed running with Yumke so much that I changed my mind about doing the planned route. Which is a good thing because I was right -- the company helped big time. Not that we were constantly talking, but the comfort of just having someone there beside me was more than enough to get me through a good chunk of the second half. Ran about 7mi in his company, slowing in the final stretch of this portion of the course, but hardly stopping the whole time -- except for one phone call I had to make in the middle mile, and twice for a flight of stairs. I woohooed myself at Mile 16.1: I had officially run my furthest distance! Each step after this marker was a new record.
These will be the only (partial) splits I will probably ever post. Enjoy them now. Obviously they're slow for Yumke, but I think they're great for me:
10:35
10:24
10:43
12:41
10:43
11:01
11:22


Part Four: By far the worst 3mi ever logged by this pair of legs. I had no desire left. I was tired, hungry, thirsty, crampy, imagining a blister forming, unfocused, and kind of dreading the afternoon ahead (because I was going to be denied my post-run nap). And insanely jealous that Yumke was done for the day. His taper to begin that moment. This last impromptu part of the route was by far the slowest. With Garmin claiming I did one of those miles in 35 minutes!! I suppose it could be accurate, but I don't remember that much walking. Sure I'd already run 18mi to this point, sure there was a lot of wind now, but to slow me down that much? I guess it's possible, but I don't believe it. I remember frequently checking the Garmin and wondering why the numbers weren't turning faster, and getting increasingly flustered. (Don't be smartass -- Of course I know it's directly related to my own movement.)
But it was the thought of a cheeseburger that got me through the last bit. CMan, on his way to work, found me about 1/2 mile from my goal, his workplace where I was to pick up the car for an afternoon of different running. He said he was going to pick up some burgers. I pushed as best I could a half mile down the road where a truly beautiful burger was awaiting. I think it might have taken me about 2-1/2 minutes to devour it. And then a large diet Coke. And some fries. And onion rings. Maybe not the greatest post-run meal, but wow, was it ever satisfying.

The numbers today: 20.1 miles. 2078 calories burned. Avg 13.17 min/mi. 4:26:51 spent on my feet running to achieve all this. One hurting, but accomplished and proud girl.

Doubling down on extra rest

Had a work function tonight. That is, we had a casino night -- all play money -- and while I never got near the craps table, I was on a pretty good run at roulette and blackjack for awhile. All in all, a good time, and a good excuse to take the night off from running. But Frankie and I walked two miles -- that's, ahem, cross-training -- against the wind to get to the party. I think that counts. (And we both stuck to water at the gathering.) With a 20-miler on Saturday morning, I need/want all the rest I can. (So, ya.. probably keeping tomorrow's scheduled day off. Double down! It will pay off! .. I hope)

On the running menu tonight...

For starters, I went with a light jog through the neighborhood. Whetted my appetite with a slight incline for the first mile, then got a nice dose of downhill for the next 2-1/4 miles.

I underestimated how long it would take for the party to arrive at the Running Room Clubhouse for the second course. I thought the reservation was for 6PM. Turns out it was not for another 30 minutes. I thought about leaving, thinking about the time that was being wasted waiting, mentally calculating when I would actually get home. Instead, had a drink of water by the shoe bar, then a Clif shot of espresso love, just to pass the time while making small talk.

As the rest of the guests arrived, we were told that we'd have a buffet tonight -- a 2K warmup run, followed by a side dish of tempo (another 2K, and since Garmin didn't show up for this round, I couldn't even guess what my pace was), and then we'd end off with a 2K recovery.

Well, still hungry when I returned to the clubhouse, which is good because I had another 3 miles to log. Swigged some blue Gatorade, then set out for a second helping of solo running. The sun had long since set, but there was a gentle breeze and no sign of the severe thunderstorms the weatherman had predicted.

Ran much slower in the third leg of this outing. Kind of tired now, but spirits are still somewhat up there. I ran 3.75mi, some of it on the deserted beachside boardwalk. Walked the last 1/2-mile home. Uphill. Sat in some cold water for 10 minutes. Without ice. Almost manageable, and I didn't cry this time.

Seriously famished after what turned out to be a 3-1/2 hour session. I definitely hadn't expected to be out that long. Two hours max -- and that was being over generous. Good thing CMan was on dinner duty -- he made us steak, baked potato and corn. And some onion rings for good measure.



And I had this beauty of a strawberry cupcake for dessert.












Total distance, excluding the walk: 10.7mi.

Distracted by my fuel belt

I passed the stair test today, meaning my legs felt just fine going up and down from the basement to the bedroom. My legs didn't feel dead, and there was no lack of enthusiasm on my part today to get out there and start running again. It took quite a few long blocks before I felt myself kick into a decent enough stride, and I think it was because I was distracted by my fuel belt. After going blissfully belt-free, hands-free, and just free of (negative) thoughts during the race, I had to put one of those things back on today -- the belt.
It bounced with each step and i couldn't get it to sit right during the 5-miler, which I ran at a slower-than-usual average pace of 12:59/mile. At one point I thought about chucking the whole thing. I'm going to study the water station situation on the Chicago course. If I can go without a belt, this will make life a lot easier during race day. Though that means I'll have to reconsider my running bottoms -- need pockets.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but today's run, otherwise, was a piece of cake. Bring on the 10miler tomorrow!

A peek at the peak week

So I did it right today. I called in sick, slept longer, and stayed off my feet. Then proceeded to have a nice lunch with CMan in Little Italy. Then spent three hours at the spa where I got a well-deserved "thank you health plan" massage ("Please concentrate on my legs!"), reading time, and water therapy (whirlpool, float in the pool, steam room).

My body feels much better than it did when I woke up. Masseuse has helped work out most of the tightness in the calves -- and she said my legs were very strong, very healthy. And recommended another epsom salt bath tonight as follow-up.

So now that I'm nearly finished basking in today's big rest day, I am refreshed, reenergized, ready, and actually excited, to tackle Week 15. This is the BIG week. Not only is there a midweek 10-miler, sandwiched between two 5-milers, it is time for the first and only attempt at the 20-mile training run , before doing that and more in 26 days.

I do not fear the distance.

Because although my longest run to date is 16 miles (remember, I skipped the 18miler), I have built the confidence to do progressively longer runs, and finishing with a smile. A funny thing has happened these past 14 weeks -- I learned that I am capable of discipline, that I can do just about anything I set my mind to (except the ice bath), that maybe I do like this whole running thing.

Week 14 tally: 32.1mi/51.7K (includes half-mary race)
Training to date: 339.53mi/546.46K

Two baths

Frankie and others have recently expounded on the virtues of an ice bath. I'm not averse to trying new things -- anything to speed the recovery! So, I filled the tub enough to cover my legs with cold water, then the ice cubes went in. Then my toes. Then a very loud scream.
Retreat.
Breathe.
Try again.
Tentatively, one foot in... then the other. Another very piercing scream.
And then tears.
This was not working.
So then I tried to put just my knees in. I was able to hold it for about a minute.
Another retreat. This wasn't going to happen. I was about to concede defeat in this matter.
Stared at the water for another few minutes, and CMan tried to encourage me to go in. Psyched myself up to take the plunge.
Nope. Didn't happen.

A few hours later, I drew some warm water and stirred in some epsom salts, also reputedly good things for recovery. This was an easier time, but I don't feel that much better. I do ache.

I'm taking a rest day the proper way tomorrow. Calling in sick (Really, it's like my third sick day in seven years)

"Hey yellow hat, kick some ass!"

That was the encouragement from a stranger I heard around the 5K mark of today's half-marathon race. And you know what? I DID. This girl, me in the yellow hat, kicked ass.

I had a fitful night of sleep, which I worried wouldn't bode well for the race. Though in bed by 11:30 (still kind of late), I woke up around 1:30 with an inexplicably itchy shoulder. I kept scratching and scratching. Some aloe helped.

At 5am, after fighting with the snooze button for 30minutes, my cousin phoned to say she was on her way to my house to pick me up. I reluctantly got out of bed, cursing the itchy shoulder some more. Put on my race clothes, which I am glad I laid out the night before. I scarfed down some Vector cereal, one of many mini boxes I grabbed during the expo.

By 6AM, we had arrived downtown, an hour ahead of the start time. Rather than hang out by the start line, we went to my office, which was five minutes away, and hung out there. I must have peed three times before heading out to the starting line.

Which is why I'm curious why I had to go during the race. My race strategy was to not stop for pitstops on my way to a 2:15 half-mary finish. But there was no way around this. Not long after I high-fived the spectating Frankie, I sent my cousin ahead (I mean, why should I ruin her race by making her wait for me) and told her I'd catch up. I didn't take into account how long I'd be in line for. An eternity ... especially when you're trying to play catchup afterwards.

The pitstop put me four minutes behind pace. So to make up for some lost time, I decided to just run continuously and forgo my regular 10:1 run/walk program... I felt I was capable, and partly because I needed to catch up to my cousin, who was holding my one energy gel. I don't know why I didn't pin it on myself, but I just figured we were running the whole thing together so I went without a fuel belt today. My pants do not have pockets. So maybe it's time to consider a different pair of running bottoms for the race. Not having a fuel belt was liberating. I depended on the water stations today, and it was enough.

Well, I felt I was making up some good ground. I was running at what I suppose is my race pace -- around 10min-11min/mile. Around the 7K mark, about 53 minutes into the race -- I saw the elite group of Kenyans (okay, there were probably other nationalities in that pack) and I woohooed them. Then I saw other elites. I saw one of the Jogglers, but not sure which one. I saw Ed "The Master" Whitlock, running hero to many, and the only person on the planet over 70 years of age to have run a marathon in under the magical 3 hour barrier. Today, at 75 years old, he set another world record, running the marathon in 3:08. Astounding.

Seeing these amazing runners over the next two kilometers was unbelievebly inspiring. I ran through water stations, taking the water on the go, and kept a keen eye out for my cousin. I started to worry about not having my gel, which compelled me to run a little bit faster. Which I think is okay because I don't push myself nearly enough during my training runs. And I was there to race.

As I approached the turnaround point, my cousin spotted me from the other side and ran across the median to hand me the gel -- bless her -- because I had been running for more than an hour now and it was time for a boost. But I had to wait with no water station for a little while longer. So I kept trying to push ahead to catch my cousin. At each kilometer marker, I was still behind pace, but had cut the gap to about 3-1/2 minutes, so that made me feel good.

Then the kilometers just melted away. One by one. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, I had no music. I concentrated very hard on my breathing, and picked people out ahead of me as targets to pass.

I ran and I ran and I ran. At the 16K mark, I heard a woman comment to her running companion that all they had left was 5K -- the equivalent of their Monday night runs. "Piece of cake," she said to her partner. And that rang true with me. I buckled down and gunned harder to catch my cousin. There was a slight hill just before the 20K mark, and it didn't faze me (yay for hill training, however scant that has been!).

I was on a mission.

With determination building, I saw the 20K flag. I was close, so close to the finish line. I ran through a tunnel, thinking the whole way, "I can see the light at the end of this" ... and then I made the turn for the home stretch.

I briefly looked around for familiar faces -- my parents, Yumke, my aunt and uncle, Greg. I did see Yumke, who was perfectly situated about 300m from the finish line. I waved, and kept going. I was a speed demon. By this time, I had no interest in seeing any more familiar faces -- I could see the finish line, I could visualize myself crossing it. I was now narrowly focused, and started to pick more people off all the way to the finish line. It was a strong finish, and, yes, I was not just smiling when I crossed. I was beaming.

In the end, I didn't catch my cousin, but I nearly did. She finished 1min,17s ahead of me. My chip time: 2:18:40.

With today's finish, I did not have the feeling that I could do the whole distance again right then, but I did think I could run a few more miles. So, three more Sundays before show time. I think I can, I think I can ....