18 Miles, A Smile, and A Relay

Yesterday was my longest run in over a year. Training Peaks (Coach Kristen) said to do 2.5 hours with this after warm-up: 4 x 15 min at 7:50-7:55 pace then 1 minute walk and 9 minutes easy after each; finish strong.   After a week of cold and more rain, it was beautiful out. Here’s my view on the drive to Wrightsville, where my nice long route (complete with a water fountain so I don’t have to carry water) is.

On my way to run. Yes, I pulled over to take this picture.

I tried grits as a pre-run meal, as opposed to a banana and oatmeal, just to shake it up.  This is the time to try different things, so I figured I might as well. They sort of sat a little heavy, so I think I’ll stick with my normal oatmeal and banana.

I started out at an 8:15 pace and knew I needed to cool it a little or I’d burn up since I’ve been in heavy training mode since the Myrtle Beach 1/2. Well, I didn’t cool it and I was sizzling, almost close to burning up at the end of my 2.5 hours, er, 18 miles.  I was SO close to 18 at 2.5 hours so I went a whole two minutes over to get to that mile mark. I can’t imagine any other runner does that, hmmmm?

During the first half of the run, I was in a happy place. Things were feeling good, but I noticed my Garmin was all over the place. At one point during a pick-up, it read 8:15, but I knew it felt faster. I maintained the pace and all of a sudden, Garmy said I was going 7:40. WTF? Really? Most of the pick-up times averaged 7:30-7:40 instead of the prescribed pace, and I knew I would be EXHAUSTED when I was done, but I kept with it for most of them. I marveled at the fact that some people run marathons at that pace, and they run marathons at much, much faster as well. I just can’t imagine.  I finished as strong as I could, but I did utter a few swear words near the end. I realized my new shoes were going to be too narrow to keep and that I have a new irritation, a spot that’s hard to identify, so I’ll call it the “inside of my Achilles but not really my Achilles but near that and my ankle” spot. Calling doctor to get in for any manual therapy he can do to help the mystery spot. And for an adjustment to be sure I’m running straight. That always helps.

I also noticed there were a lot of GRUMPY people out and I didn’t get it. It was beautiful out, they were at the beach, what is there to be grumpy about?! You may wonder why I knew they were grumpy??? Well, I don’t know how many people I passed who didn’t look at me, didn’t acknowledge my existence, didn’t say one word, blink, stick their tongue out, NOTHING.  It was almost as bad last week. I always at least try to look at people when I pass, say “good mornin'”, smile, or put my hand up a little just to show I see them. Sometimes when I’m at the end of a pickup, all I can muster is a “hmmtpfht” or a smile that probably looks more like I’m trying not to pass gas, but at least I try.  I passed tons of people who didn’t flinch when I said “mornin'”. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.  I even passed someone from my running group, a fellow blogger, who didn’t even look at me, just kept on a going.  What the heck?!

I beg of you, use your runnerly manners and just acknowledge people when you pass. Blink hard at them, say “eh”, put your finger up (even the middle one since then at least that’s some form of communication), SOMETHING. What I started doing was when I passed someone who was a big huge Grinch, I stuck my tongue out and made a sour face after they passed by. It made me laugh and it was my way of getting back at them.  Don’t let that be YOU.

Once I got done running, I stretched in the parking lot and headed home for this:

Starbucks coffee and a 49 degree cool down.

I was achy so figured this would help, but then I took a 200 degree shower for three hours. I didn’t hear of a water shortage in my area, so that’s good. I did tons of stretching and have done more again today to work the kinks out. Now I get to go shoe shopping again since both pairs are just too narrow. I’m trying not to freak out because Boston is in SIX WEEKS!!!!

Next week is a big test for me.  I’m running two legs of the Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon Relay, which is right around 16 miles, at marathon pace.  I’m nervous based on how I felt yesterday, but I have two days off this week, only one speed workout, and won’t do pick-ups during the race.  My goal will be to keep a steady pace and to feel good when I’m done. This is a pancake flat course, so it will be much, much easier than Boston, so here’s hoping it goes as planned!  I’m working on pre-race fuel to make sure I feel good and don’t have any GI issues like I did in Myrtle.

Happy training!!