The Big Ten!

Today was a FULL day at school. Not necessarily a bad day, but just one of those days that really illustrates what it's like to have 21 little (okay, actually, most of them have BIG) personalities from ages 8-11 in one little mobile unit for a full day of learning two different grade level curriculums. Near the end of the school day, I was worn out. The idea of my Wednesday long run seemed a little doubtful.

Something happened though in that magical moment when I saw all my little babies out to the buses. It was warm and pretty, and I had that mushy they-might-drive-me-crazy-but-I-love-these-children feeling I get a chance to breathe for a second. I collected my goodbye hugs and the unexpected look back and wave from a student who really needs and cherishes that last little bit of attention.

And suddenly, I got my second wind! Going home to run 10 miles seemed not only practical, but undeniably tempting! So, after a brief meeting, I was free to rush home, lace up, don my running skirt for the first time since autumn and I hit the road.

10 miles: done. It was a lovely, uneventful run.

Half-marathon in 11 days: suddenly realistic. I'm excited!

Another Wednesday Long Run!

I don't know how I've gotten into this schedule, but my long runs keep migrating from Sunday to Wednesday...which turns out to be fine because I had a FANTASTIC run today!

I'm sorry to go all capitalized on you, but it was a really, really good run. The best and longest one I've had since the marathon. I explored a new area (scoping out a course for the 5K...I'll update you on that soon), had a Chocolate Outrage GU and water at mile 5, and finished the last three miles in the rain and the last two in the dark. (I almost ate the sidewalk once about a half mile from home on a particularly unlit block.)

I just felt great, though. I had energy all the way through and my legs didn't get sore at all. Maybe I've actually been building some muscles with all this Jillian Michaels Shredding!

7 Miles: Check!

Thanks for the encouragement and accountability! I literally would not have done it without you.

I got a late start, so I was only able to get in 4 miles outside. The last one was definitely in the dark, but I really wanted to get more than half my run finished before I submitted to the dreadmill.

When I came in, I only had 3 miles left, but that was daunting enough on the treadmill. I HATE the treadmill. I haven't used it in months and today was kind of ugly (there was walking involved), but I finished it!

(By the way, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" turns out not to be such a great treadmill movie. It's been on my list of "movies everyone in the world has seen but me because I didn't grow up with a TV and it's causing me to miss pop culture references" for a while now, but it just moved up the Netflix Queue. I had run half a mile before the opening credits were even finished. I'm pretty sure I missed half the jokes because I couldn't hear them over the rickety mess that is our treadmill. I think I'll pick it up another time though.)

Mid-Run Fuel

With my ginormous blister healing up nicely (I was pretty worried it was infected...it was red and painful and just generally gross) and my quads no longer sore, it is more than time for me to hit the road this afternoon.

And I will...after I finish this post and maybe grade a few papers.

I've been meaning to share my mid-run fueling experiences though and wanted to see if anybody had some suggestions. Until my last two long runs, I have never used any kind of energy gel or beans or what-have-you at all. In fact, I mostly have tried to avoid the Gatorade at water stations during half-marathons. I just had this hang-up about taking in calories while I was trying to burn them. It didn't make sense to me.

Well, I got over it. I've accepted that (obviously) my body is going to be able to perform better during 10+ mile runs if I have some kind of calories during the run. I knew that I would need some kind of energy to survive 26.2, for sure.

So, while I was home at my parents' (remember? the promised land of 5Ks and running partners and proximity to running stores?), we went to a wonderful running store in Charlotte and I loaded up on a sampling of energy products. I used them about every 4-5 miles during my 13 and 20 mile runs the past two weeks.

I was advised to take the gels gradually and drink water while doing so. I timed my fuels so that I could pick up the gel and water bottle on the porch then run a mile around the block while getting it down. Which worked pretty well, except that I had such a hard time getting down the whole package of 100 calories! (Mark this as the one and only time I'll complain about not being able to finish my food.) Out of the five I tried, I could only completely finish two over the course of a mile.

This is not scientific at all (I think a lot of it had to do with what point I was in my run) but here's what I thought about each of them.

The strawberry banana PowerBar gel was pretty tasty (think smoothie), but it was a little heavy. I was not quite about to finish it.
I will not be purchasing an Accel Gel again! The taste was okay, but the texture was really thick and kind of gritty. I could not even get down half of the package.
The Sport Beans were the surprise winner of my unofficial test! I really did not think I would like eating jelly beans while running, but they were actually the easiest to get down. It might have just been coincedence, but I had the biggest energy boost after these as well.


Even being the chocolate addict that I am, I was unsure about eating liquid chocolate during a run. The Hammer Gel was pretty delicious (it reminded me of the syrup that comes in those brownie mixes, but a little more bittersweet), but was a little too thick and I couldn't get down all of it. And I got chocolate on my hands. Which I normally don't complain about, but it was kind of sticky and gross at mile 8. The GU Chocolate Outrage was my favorite gel. It was a little sweeter than the Hammer Gel and not as thick. The girl at the running store warned me that it was a little too much chocolate for some and did not settle well with their stomachs. My stomach, being quite acclimated to large doses of chocolate, did quite well with this. This was the only gel I was able to get all the way down.

Does anyone else have a problem eating the whole pack? I thought spreading it over a mile (9-10 minutes) and drinking water was more than enough time. What kind of fuel do y'all use? Do some long-distance runners just use Gatorade?

Y'all, I ran 20 miles...

...by myself, running in circles around town, in 95% humidity.

I am so tickled that I was able to do this that I cannot put it into words. It went surpisingly well. I walked for just a bit twice while I was trying to get down energy gels, but kept a really great pace (for me) almost until the end.

When I passed mile 17, I got a little emotional because last time I tried this (four years ago) I crumpled in pain at mile 17 and had to limp home on a bad knee. That was the end of my marathon training and all running for several months.

Today, mile 17 with no pain (except worn-out quads) was a sign I could make it. I did walk and even stretch a little in miles 18 and 19 because my legs were starting to say, "No more, please!"

Mile 20, though, was mine. I was at a pretty slow pace at that time, but pulled a little (what I had left of) a sprint on the last block to my house. I wish I had a picture of the completely goofy grin I was sporting when I finished and knew: I ran 20 miles today.

Yay!

Well, that didn't work.

Yesterday, I very purposefully mentioned that I would going on a long run today. I thought, if I publicly announced that I would run 15+ miles (and I know I can because I did it last weekend) and block out 3 hours and hit the road, a magical mid-week long run would materialize!

Well, I apparently didn't use enough fairy dust, because 5 miles in, I said, "Forget it."

I was hot, dehydrated, stressing about my teetering pile of papers to grade, a little worn out from a long day of fourth graders, and generally not feeling it. I scraped this week's (already two days late) long run and decided to conserve my time and energy for this weekend.

I rediscovered my marathon plan after a few weeks off track and saw that I need to complete a 13 miler this coming weekend and then hit the big 2-0 the following week. I honestly think I can do it. Slowly, pathetically, but it will be done. I've come too far to turn back now. I just desperately wish I had someone to run with here though.

It's hard for me to fathom that about 4 years ago, the last time I was training for a marathon, that I joyfully hit the road (iPod-less, can you imagine?) for 13, 15, 17 miles at a time by myself. (Except for my one and only running blind date, but that's a story for another day.) I ran, even while limping, before I had to accept my knee was not compatible with a marathon at that time.

I'm just not feeling it now. How do y'all get through long runs by yourselves? I need a partner, I need water stations, I need to not compete with traffic! I really enjoyed and felt good about that 15 miles with my mom last weekend, but alone today, it just wasn't happening.

We took the lake!

I just arrived home from a lovely weekend at the nearby lake with both my own family and in-laws. I feel very, very fortunate that I grew up in a wonderful family, married into a wonderful family, and both of these families are even able to socialize with each other! (Right before we broke out the sparklers and exited our wedding reception, our photographer pulled my husband and I aside for a couple quick shots and told us, "You both have such nice families. And they even get along and seem to be happy together! Nobody was stressed out or pushy or anything. I don't see this very often." Since this guy had been to more weddings that year than most attend in a lifetime, I took that as a pretty good indicator.)



My family's trip down here, as per usual, was in part prompted by an athletic event. Every Labor Day weekend, athletes, mostly local, gather at Lake Waccamaw to "Take the Lake." This year was the first year that it has been truly organized and advertised, complete with water stops, porta-potties, online registration, and even Twitter! Between both of our families, we pretty decently covered the event. Here were the offerings and the participants:

Saturday, 8 AM
Run/Walk 15 miles around the lake

My mom and I ran and were pretty pleased with the result. I haven't run this distance in 3 years and my mom had never ran this far. Part of it was through wooded and sandy trails, so it's hard to translate to marathon pace time though. I finished in 2:57, which is about 5 miles per hour. If I'm able to be just a tad faster than that on October 18th, I might be under 5 hours for the marathon. My mom wasn't far behind. (I'll give the full race report later this week.)

My husband and father-in-law both completed the 15 mile walk and my mother-in-law and several family friends walked part of the way.

(Without being part of the official event, one of my sisters accidentally biked around the lake that morning as well.)

Sunday, 8 AM
Bike 15 miles around the lake

I worked on grad school work and skipped out on the bike, but my youngest sister, dad, mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and her boyfriend all biked. They kept stressing throughout the weekend that these were NOT RACES, but that kind of motivated my mom and a few of the other competitive bikers and they raced tightly along (even through the woods where they had to run pushing/carrying their bikes). My mom was 3rd overall and the first woman to finish, which makes us very proud, and also makes me glad that I was at home typing instead of trying to keep up with her.

Sunday, 2 PM
Kayak 14 miles around the lake

My mom and father-in-law were interested in this event, but a little concerned about how boring kayaking in a giant circle for 4 hours might prove to be. They started, but encountered very choppy water an hour or so in, and bailed. We watched the other paddlers from the pier, as they passed several hours later, and once again, I was glad I sat that one out.

Monday, 8 AM
Swim 4 miles across the lake

Unfortunately, there was not a representative from our family in this event. I swam the lake 3 years ago. It was the most athletically challenging thing I've ever done and I'm a pretty decent swimmer. (I have a lot more skill as a swimmer than a runner, actually. In my wildest dreams, they would build a YMCA here and I would faithfully swim every day.) Next year, I think I'd like to conquer the swim again.

In any case, our two families together circled the lake 11 times this weekend! That's 165 miles, if you were counting. Hope y'all enjoyed your labor day weekend too!

(Tomorrow, I'll catch y'all up on my 365 and marathon training. I haven't forgotten!)

Thanks for the push!

I got in my 12! After slacking off for 2 weeks, I was a little worried about it. I made my Run vs. Reese's Puffs (which I ironically had a huge bowl of right after I got in from my run) earlier and then spent the rest of the afternoon otherwise occupied and waiting for the weather to cool down.

When the time tolled, I checked my email right quick before heading out. I was so surpised and happy to see I had multiple comments: encouraging me, slightly scolding me for slacking off, wanting to hear about my long run. Suddenly, I went from worried to inspired!

I bounced out onto the porch and announced to my husband, "My blogger friends are cheering me on! I can do this long run after all! See, I need them. Besides my mom, I don't have anybody in real life to get excited about me running 12 miles."

So, thank you, for holding me accountable and keeping me motivated.

It was actually a pretty good run. It's been raining all weekend so it wasn't 2 miles before I accidentally trampled through a puddle, but the wet shoes didn't bother me too much. (I did end up darting in the house real quick when I was passing it at mile 10 to change into some dry socks...by that time, it was pretty necessary.) I ended up walking a little here and there, but I feel no shame in that. I had some faster spurts too, so it kind of evened out. Overall, it was about 11 minute miles, which is about what I'm aiming for in the marathon.

After not running for 5 days, it just felt so good to be out there. I'm still contemplating the next step in my running plan and I appreciate all the suggestions and advice y'all been giving. Keep 'em coming!

Yesterday, on my run, I saw...

• Josie choosing to run with me instead of Leslie because I'm much slower her favorite.
• (and smelled) a deer in the ditch that had been decomposing for at least 3 days.
• Josie almost attack a pack of cats.
• my elementary school best friend's mom.
• a pack of dogs almost attack Josie. (Karma?)
• a long, creepy, brown snake skin right in time to prevent me stepping on it.
• my little sister a good half-mile (or more) ahead of me at the turnaround.
• a dead snake in the road.
• the sun go down.
• my uncle in his driveway and darted behind some corn so I wouldn't get the no-running-in-the-dark lecture.
• a beautiful display of heat lightning in the distance.
• my little sister (finished with her run) driving back out to see if I was okay.
• the end of the driveway, barely visible in the dark, signifying I was finished!

and I felt...great! I tried this same 8 mile run on Sunday and came back home after 2 miles: hot, tired, and defeated. It's amazing what a difference a day can make.

Count 'Em

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

That's how many miles I just ran. Can you tell I'm proud?