18 Miles!

Saturday Greg and I went out to Miami Whitewater. I ran 18 miles and Greg ran 8. Sorry, no pictures. This is just going to be a boring wordy post.

Greg did the first loop with me, which is about 8 miles if you stretch it all the way out in the parking lot. We went at a steady 10:55 - 11:00 pace and chatted. He was starting to feel it by the end, but did great. The most he's ever ran (about 4 years ago) is 6.2. I was very impressed.

We got back to the beginning and I stretched briefly. I was so tight. Then Greg went to cool down and play some disc golf while I ran the loop again, to get to 16 miles. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. When we first started on the first loop, it was hard to hold back at the slow pace. During the second loop, I kept looking at my watch, fulling expecting the pace to start showing well into the 11's. But I managed to hang on at 10:57... until about 13.4 miles. It was getting too hard to maintain the pace, so I let myself slow down to whatever felt right. When it was all done, I averaged 11:34. I'm still pretty happy with that, especially considering it was kind of hilly and I ran up all the big hills. I felt strong and in control.

After the second loop, I went ahead and did the little inner loop that is only about 1.4 miles. I still had 2 miles to go! The inner loop starts with a severe long down hill, which hurt. Then it levels out and joins the outer loop, so I had to run the big hill at the end of the outer loop yet again, making it a 3rd time! It was rough.

By now, I was definitely hurting everywhere. I found what I will call my marathon shuffle though. I was moving forward at a steady pace and everything felt in control (breathing, body parts, etc). I saw Greg and told him I had about .7 to go and ran around the concession stand and back. I felt like throwing my arms into the air when I saw 18.00 click over on my GPS. Finally finished, I walked up to the concession stand where Greg was. I really wanted chocolate milk, but had to settle for a Pepsi. After sitting for a little bit, sipping the Pepsi and moaning, we got in the car and headed back home. I fell asleep on the way back.

Pain, definite pain! But today is Monday and I'm already feeling better. Most importantly, I have NO HIP PAIN. I can kind of feel it when I stretch, but that is all. So I'm so happy about that!

I think the marathon is going to be absolutely awesome! It is less than a month away now, I can't wait!!