A hard 20 miles

Today I confirmed something I already knew in my heart. 20 miles is even tougher when you are not running it. Today I manned a water station for USAFIT Philly. I met with everyone at the start then headed off in my car to wait for them at my designated spot. Here I would see them twice. Once as they finished 9.5-10 miles and once on the way back at mile 14.5-15.

It's hard to sit and wait. Not just because it was cool and rainy. I wanted to be out there with them. I was bored! All in all the group did well. Since this was our second long run like this it was good for everyone to compare to the last one. Most said they felt better, stronger than last time. That's so good to hear.

I used the down time between runner sightings to think about this year and things that I want to see for the group next year. I should have written them down.

Tomorrow the Ben Frankling Bridge 10K. I'm looking forward to it.

I went to the gym yesterday. The usual simple workout. Weights then 30 minuntes on the bike. Today I went out for 2- 2 mile loops around Media. Most of the distance was down Jackson and back up Edgmont. Edgmont is a nice long slow climb. Jackson is more rolling although mostly down in the direction I took it. I took my time and just kept moving. It felt good for the most part. My right ankel and hip bothered me some near the end but I was able to walk that off. Off tomorrow.

22 miles.... done and in the books

I finished! Making a total of 33 miles for the weekend
I feel great. Yeah my muscles are sore but I am not exhausted and my spirits are high!

The alarm went off at 6 a.m. For about 10 seconds I thought about waiting another hour and decided against it. It was now or never. Breakfast was a bagel, a banana and some water and off I went.

Driving over I changed my route yet again. I would do the same route but decided on the 4 miles out to Norristown and back would be the first leg. This is a lot of new territory for running. I've walked that years ago but our training runs usually don't go past the 27.5 marker in that direction. I would be going 2 more miles before turning around. I decided I wanted fresh body and mind for the unknown. I think it was a good idea. I went out to 25.5, walked for the time it took to down a gu and some water, stopped briefly to stretch and headed back.

At 29.5 I headed down the the water fountain to fill my bottles, stretched, downed another gu and headed off in the direction of Oaks. When I got down the hill I turned left to add the exta mile that I needed. This was a very very very muddy 1/2 mile out and 1/2 mile back. The rains last night made a real mess of the trail. My sneaks are a mess. They'll clean up after they dry out but I threw out the socks. They aren't worth the effort to clean them. That's how bad it was. I think this is where running slow was a good thing. A faster runner would probably lose their footing in that muck.

So out to the dog park toward Phoenixville and back. After that, I walked back up the hill to the bridge across the Perkiomen Creek. I took a gu and water and at the top of the hill stopped to stretch. A little over 4 miles back to 29.5.

All along I had been thinking that if I got back to 29.5 and felt good mentally I would add another 2 miles. Well 29.5 arrived and I still had it together in my head tho my muscles were aching. My joints were good though. I watered up and decided I'd take it 1/2 mile at a time. I turned back toward 30...if I made it there and felt like it I'd go to 30.5 before turning around. Well I did make it to 30.5 and back. All that remained was the approx .75 back to the car.

The last half mile I was starving... really felt hungry..... like i would have eaten eggplant and lima beans which I HATE!!! So I didn't hydrate well enough. It was cool and I wasn't paying enough attention. I really only drank when I gued and that obviously was not enough. It also took a very long time to finish. I'll stil manage to finish Goofy in time to qualify for the medal(s) .... it will be a very long day.

I arrived home, showered, took an alleve and ate some salad. On the way home I had a peanut butter granola bar... and lots of water. I've been trying to make sure I get up and walk every 30 minutes or so if I'm sitting and although sore I'm not stiff. Of course getting out of bed tomorrow may be a different story.

Rainy run walk

So the temperature was 68 when I left the house. By the time I arrived at our meeting spot at 7:15, blue skies were peeking through the clouds. I knew that wouldn't last and it didn't. Still all in all it was an ok run. We started out in about 99% humidity.. however close you can get to 100% without actually raining. It wasn't until about mile 5.5 that the rains came and by that time it was actually refreshing.

I think our total today was 11 rather than 12; but hey whats a mile among friends :). I started out with my usual. "I'll run until that hill and then walk a bit" The hills on this route were strategically placed for that I was lucky. I changed strategies though. About mile 6 or so Helen and Mark leap frogged me twice doing a walk run thing. 2 minutes walking 1 minute running (a la Jeff Galloway). Helen and Mary had used the strategy in the Baltimore Marathon and it worked well. After they caught up to me the second time I decided to finish with them. The 2 minutes running was faster than I normally run but it was ok, telling myself I only have to keep this up for two minutes and then I can walk for a minute.

We finished at an average pace of about 11:35 per mile. Had I kept running I would have slowed down (without the benefit of the walk breaks) and probably finished at a slower average and well behind them. I felt good when we were done too. I felt like I ran well and recovered pretty quick.

It'd be nice to try this tomorrow on my 20 miler but I don't wear a running watch so I'd have to figure the intervals on my own. I could do it by feel. Run a quick pace for about 10 seconds longer than I think I can hold it (which is how it felt today) and then walk until I can just about catch my breath again (which is how the walk break felt). We'll see.

I've changed my mind on the route for tomorrow. The route we took today was partly new and I liked it. If I had gone all the way to the end of the one path it would be 6 out and back to the start. So I think I'll do that but when I get back to Betzwood I'll go 4 out and back toward Norristown to get the final 8 in and then head over the bridge to the start. Two water bottles should hold up until returning to Betzwood where I can refill.

Stay tuned :)

Still rain in the forecast

The forecast for tomorrow gets grimmer by the minute. Still about 70% chance of rain and probable thunderstorms but I haven't really heard any committment as to when the thunder storms are coming. Let's hope later in the day because we will have to cancel the run if it does.

On another but still running related note, i've decided to organize some cheer zones for the Philly Marathon for USAFIT Philly runners. I'm doing the Half that day and so are some others. We have some phillyfitters who are not running at all due to injury or maybe they did a marathon earlier. I'm hoping to get some of each of these groups to form some cheer zones for both the half and full marathon runners that day. I can think of half a dozen spots we could cover. Even if no one else steps up I plan to stay after finishing my hafl to cheer on the full runners. It wil be fun.

I am blessed to have family at most of my races. My husband has been to all but one so far and both he and my daughter stood in the freezing temperatures at last year's marathon. Not everyone has family though and they've worked so hard for six months. And even if they do have friends and family along the route so extra cheering will alwasy be appreciated.