I ran 20 miles today. It was a battle of the wills, me against the dreaded 20. And thankfully I won. That was the most brutal run I have ever done. The Kansas wind was pure evil, it was like running against a wall, sustained winds at 15 mph, with gusts more than 20 mph. We ran into the wind for probably a good six miles, if you have never done that, it takes it out of you like none other. There were many tears involved in several miles of this slow and painful process. But the 20 miles are over, and I know I'm that much closer. Needless to say, my time on this run was significantly slower than my past two long runs. That makes me nervous.
This past week has just been one of those bad running weeks overall. No matter what I did, no matter the rest I had, what I ate, running was just plain hard the entire week. I finally came to terms with that fact that I have had what all the kids like to call 'burnout' (not just in running, in everything) lately. I knew that was probably an indication the 20 would be difficult, so I was prepared. Not to mention my hip has been tweaky all week, the same hip 'thing' that kept me from doing the marathon I originally wanted to do several years ago.
Kristen the running lawyer and I met up and ran about 14 miles together, I peeled off for my last six and she went in a different direction for her last four. She was only doing 18 (since she ran the Princess Half-Marathon last week, her first half ever, MAD PROPS!) It was wonderful having someone along for the windy ride today, I'm so thankful she was there.
I finished my 20 to find Kristen and Ed (they went to law school together and work together, so they are good buds) in the parking lot waiting for me. I started doing my ugly running cry. I was so thankful to see them both. Ed is a road biker and had done a 40 mile bike ride with a buddy, 16 miles straight into the wind, so he was feeling pretty wiped out as well. I had sent him a few texts saying I was doing okay (he is always concerned about the well being of my foot, rightly so) but the run was brutal. He was close to the park anyway so he decided to stop by to cheer me up after my run. It certainly did the trick.
We headed home and I instantly hit the ice bath, then ate--no--inhaled a pita sandwich, stretched, took a shower and took a nap. Then an hour later had dinner and am now icing my hamstring and hip while drinking a smoothie. I really do feel better than I thought I would. I'm sure tomorrow I'll be really sore, but it's the price I have to pay. The price of stupidly deciding I should run a marathon... sigh. It's worth it. I just hope I'm ready.
6 comments:
great job on the 20, and the wind sounds insane! trust your training, you'll do great. keep icing the hamstring/hip, keep listening to your body... hope it clears up
awesome job on the 20!!! both my 20 milers for my first marathon were much slower than any other of my training runs, but they still were great training runs and really helped me come marathon day. 6 weeks to go!!!!
Good work pushing through the wind. It's so cool that you had your own cheering squad - hold onto them!
awesome job on the 20 miler...wow, that seems so far to me...and, I guess it is...way to go
The first thing I'm going to do after crawling across the finish line in OKC is strangle you for talking me into this... :)
My 20s kept getting progressively slower . . . it drove me nuts! But bad-weather training is good for the soul. Just think, in six weeks you'll have your medal . . . Taper's almost here!
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