2-0

The number 20 can represent any number of things.  A birthday.  The number of years you’ve been married.  The number of pounds you needed to lose when you started running again two and half years ago.  At that time it certainly wasn’t the number of miles I ever considered being capable of (or wanting to) run.  But here I sit, sore, yet proud, of accomplishing that goal this morning.

I left the house around 7:30, a bit later than I wanted, but at least the sun was up.  The weather was perfect.  Crisp, but sunny.  I ran two miles around the neighborhood and headed over to Butler.  As my long runs have gotten longer, I try to add my distance into the middle of the run, as opposed to just running farther north on the Monon (mainly because I hate running north of 96th Street).  I turned around at the 38th Street bridge, hoping that I wouldn’t have to go much farther north than 91st Street.

I’ve been testing out various types of gels over the last few weeks, and have decided that I prefer Chomps and Sport Beans to the actual gels.  Last week I took something every 5 miles, but felt like I ran out of energy long before it was time to take the next dose.  And it seemed to take longer to feel the boost (also 4 Chomps is a lot to stuff in your face at one time).  I decided I would try eating a couple of Chomps every two and a half miles.  It seemed to work out OK.

I felt pretty good, but at mile 8 my legs started to feel tired.  I wasn’t expecting that until mile 12 or so.  I hit the Monon around mile 9.5, and immediately got behind this guy that did not want me to pass him.  I did anyway, but at 10 miles stopped for some Chomps.  He passed me, I started back up, caught up to him, and again he kept pushing over to the middle of the path while looking over his shoulder.  Seriously?  That continued all the way to 96th.  I met my husband just south of 91st, he turned around, and we continued to the turnaround point, took a bathroom break, and headed towards home with about 6.5 miles to go.

At mile 16, with only 4 miles to go, I started wondering what my mental state would be at mile 16 in the race, knowing that I had 1o more miles to go.  Then I realized I (hopefully) wouldn’t be thinking in those terms at only 16 miles.  I have always managed to make it through long runs by not focusing on how many miles down/how many miles to go.  Since it has to be done, the best thing is to focus only on putting one foot in front of the other.  But I felt pretty good at 16 miles, and the thought of another ten miles wasn’t that daunting.

But then I hit mile 18, and I wasn’t sure I would even be able to finish the last two miles without walking.  I felt like I’d hit a wall, and my legs felt like lead.  I was certain I was running over a 10 minute pace.  I felt slow.  But when I looked at my watch, I was under 9 minutes.    Then I started to feel stronger.  So on we pushed.  When I heard the alert at 19 miles, all I could think about was mentally ticking off tenth of a mile increments.  I knew I would hit twenty miles before we made it back home, and I wasn’t sure yet if I would run the rest of the way home or walk.

When I hit twenty, I decided it best to walk home.  I was surprised at how much every part of my body hurt when I stopped.  Everything was sore, and I wondered how I would ever keep going for another six miles (I’m still not sure, to be quite honest).  I thought the finish would be a bit more emotional.  I would not have been surprised if I had shed a tear or two.  But I didn’t.  I just felt amazing.  Exhausted and in pain, but amazing.  And still able to smile (as Pete jumped at me to photobomb with his paws).

I stretched and thought about the run, and what I need to do to keep things more consistent.  I was happy that my pace was faster than last week, but was hoping for closer to 9:15.  I am concerned about starting out too fast during the race, and I have allowed myself to go as slow as I want at the beginning of the long runs.  I need to work on gradually increasing my pace each mile.  Good thing I have another 20 mile run in two weeks.

I topped off the run with some chocolate milk and donuts.  It was the perfect reward.  And I am so ready to sleep soundly tonight.