Because 20 Miles Wasn't Quite Enough

So I last blogged about how my motivation was lacking, and I was feeling uninspired and tired of training. Not a great way to be feeling when I was facing my second 20-mile training run.

I knew it had to get done, though, so I got myself as prepared as I could, both mentally and physically.

I opted to go this one alone, even though I could have met up with the running club at the halfway point. I just wanted to run at my own pace, and not be concerned with being at a certain spot at a particular time to meet people. I had a few new songs on my iPod, and all my fuel and water ready to go, so out I went.

As always, I felt like I was going out a little too fast, and worked really hard to moderate my pace in the early miles. I really wanted to work on pacing myself well for this run, as I was kind of hoping to turn it into a 22-miler instead of a 20-miler, and I knew that starting too fast would make that incredibly difficult.

I was somewhat successful. Some of my early miles were still a little on the fast side (sub-8:30 pace), but for the most part, I was able to keep them between 8:30 and 8:40. I followed the first loop of the Gansett course, and again marveled at how blissfully flat it is.

I also marveled at how awesome it is to be able to train on the course. It's nice when you can do that for shorter races, but it's such a huge bonus to be able to do it for a marathon. And this isn't the first time I've run these roads, either - they were a large part of my training for Hartford, so I was already pretty familiar with them, and now I could practically run them blindfolded.

The first loop is 16 miles, and I finished that up feeling pretty good. I was definitely feeling like I had run 16 miles, but I also felt like I wanted to go ahead and push for the extra 2.

In addition to the psychological benefit of knowing that I had run more than 20 miles in training, I also wanted to have the experience of running a loop course. The second loop is only 10 miles, but those 10 miles are on the same territory you've covered the first time around, and that's something I struggle with mentally, and something I've only done a handful of times, so I thought a little practice with it would be helpful. 

Heading out on that second loop, I actually felt great at first - I was back to running with the ocean at my side, and I knew I was now really getting closer to being done. But that little boost was quickly quashed, as the fatigue really started to set in and my muscles and joints began protesting.

From mile 17 to mile 22, there was a battle being waged, and it got particularly ugly at about the 20.5-mile mark. Everything from the neck down was screaming 'stop, stop, stop!' but the thought that kept going through my head was 'Just. Keep. Moving.'

I also thought about all the work I've already put in, and how far I've come, and how amazing it's going to feel to cross the finish line in a few weeks.

And, yet another advantage to training on the course - as I finished up those 22 miles, I ran down the street and right across where that finish line is going to be set up. There was nobody there to cheer me on, and no clock with giant red numbers displaying my time, but in my head, those things were there, and I ran that final mile with a huge smile on my face (and at an 8:00 pace, to boot!!!!).

As I hobbled back to my car, I was kind of awestruck at what I had just done. 22 miles at an 8:30 pace. I know I've run 20 miles many times at this point, and I've run 26.2 miles twice, but there's something about hitting that 'longest training run ever' milestone that really hit home for me.

Tacking on those extra two miles made me feel almost as if I had run a marathon. Two extra miles doesn't make that much of a difference, but then again, it kind of does, when those two miles are the difference between 20 and 22.

I am thankful, as always, to have an amazingly supportive husband who let me do a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the day, because I really needed it.

Now it's on to Tuesday track and Thursday tempo, and then a wonderfully short-ish long run next week (only 12 miles!).

And in between all that, of course, there's laundry to be done, lunches to make, homework to assist with, and fights to referee. And three hilarious little boys to keep me alternately laughing hysterically and tearing my hair out in frustration.

Today's conversation in the car was about whether Indiana was near Asia, and how Russia is the biggest country in the United States.

And never one to be left out, Carmine spent the whole ride explaining how everyone in the car was sitting on their bum. "Mommy sittin' bum. Gabe sittin' bum. Dante sittin' bum."

Last week Gabe came out with a gem about some cough medicine we gave him before bed. It was berry-flavored, but according to him, it tasted "like raw bacon." Where he learned what raw bacon tastes like (or why that was the comparison that popped into his head at that moment!), I'll never know.....

Carmine wins the prize for the best anectdote this week, though. I had set up some train tracks for him to play with one day while I was busy cleaning, and as I finished up cleaning the bathroom and walked back into our bedroom, I saw that he had completely dismantled the tracks and they were scattered all over the room. So I asked him why he had taken the tracks apart.

He shook his head vigorously and, while standing there holding his stuffed Mickey Mouse, replied "No, no. Mickey broke tracks."

Way too smart for his own good.

Comments

[Medical Alarm System]

Congrats on your success! Thank you for posting!

[Wes]

I like that you fed your mind. brilliant.