16 miler ... check

After Thursdays wonderful run I was really looking forward to todays long run. I awoke to gray skies, rain and cool temperatures, I'll take it. We were doing the park route today, which takes you through the first 6 miles, then you exit the park and run uphill for 2 miles (a very steep and nasty hill, it's actually a local ski club!), then retrace the route back to the start.

I wrapped both my arches this morning, I had stopped because my ankle pain seemed to have gone, however, I felt it Friday, not pain but discomfort in both ankles.

The first 3 miles went by quickly ... a little too quickly, got caught up in a conversation with someone so I was running faster than I had planned. I pulled back a bit to slow my pace down. At 4.5 miles I stopped and took my first gel (back to chocolate), I was feeling hot at this stage. The rain stopped once we started running and it had gotten warmer and more humid. The next 1.5 miles went by I felt strong, a little daunted at what lay ahead, but felt pretty good. We exited the park and started our up hill climb, the first mile is a slow gradual climb, then the second mile is steep. I started to walk the big hill, N stopped and walked with me. Halfway up we both agreed that walking actually felt worse, our quads had tighten quickly on the climb. Funny though, it didn't make us run, we just continued to walk until we reached the top. We started to run again which was somewhat a relief for my legs, however my new twinge had returned to my knee ... hmmmmm. The twinge twinged all the way to the turnaround, less than .5 a mile away, still on a slight uphill but the worst of it was behind us.

There was a waterstop at the half way, I glanced at my watch ... 1 hr 39 min ... holy crap we were slow today, wow I had done the first 3 in under 30 minutes, I really slowed the pace down. Something to strive for on the way back ... 1 hr 30 mins that's my goal. I had packed my tensor band just incase, I pulled it on hoping it would silence the twinge (it did). We head back, the best part of 2 miles uphill is that it is 2 miles of downhill going back, we really picked up a nice pace on the descent. It seemed like no time and we were back in the park. We kept the pace going, a voice in my head kept telling me I was going to run out of steam in about a mile if I continued like this ... I decided not to listen. Then up ahead I saw the runners I had been talking to on the way out, we had caught them, almost. They were stopping for water, we caught them and passed them, I think it gave me more of a boost than my gel did earlier!

With 3 miles to go I took another gel, I didn't want to bonk in the last mile like I have been recently. I kept a nice steady pace, it started to rain which was pure heaven! The last 2.5 miles were great, I still felt strong for the last .5, but I think my brain began to switch off it knew the run was almost over, I kept chanting in my head ... keep running ... don't stop now ... your almost there. As I finished the run I glanced at my watch, the first time since we left the turnaround, 1 hr 15 min 24 sec ... woo hooo I did a second take just to make sure it was still ticking and hadn't stopped, it hadn't!

So what I've learned from today's run ...

1. I have a huge fear of bonking, it's what slowed me down on the first half of the run, and almost on the way back.
2. Chocolate gels work best for me, even though I am sick of them, they work.
3. Wrapping arches is a good thing
4. Vector cereal was a good choice for a pre-run meal
5. Weather has a lot to do with my performance