16 Miles the Hard Way...

Last week was week 7 of the marathon training.  I also officially registered for the full at the Memorial.

I was feeling pretty good, and a little nervous, about the 16 miles we had planned to run Saturday morning.  I got up, dropped water off at an added water stop and was running late getting to the Y.  Needless to say I just felt off my game from the start.  I had to hurry and get myself bundled up to get out there and it took about a mile or so for me to just relax into the run.

There were only three of us out there this weekend for the full, me, Abby, and Rochelle, and our plan was to walk a minute every two miles.  We had our first bathroom stop for Abby at about 4 miles (really you should not let a man plan running routes for women, because we only passed one bathroom the whole time and that was about mile 9), and our first water stop was at about mile 5.  It was cold and there was a pretty dense fog that didn't seem to burn off all morning.  I had to call Josh to bring me my waterproof jacket because by mile 5 my fleece was soaking wet from the moisture in the air.

There were hills too.  Big hills, big I-can't-see-over-the-next-one type of hills, and at the half way point I completely started to break down.  My hamstrings, my shins, my quads, the tops of my feet, my knees, my back, everything started to hurt at mile 8.  Everything except my toes, which is strange because my toes used to give me the most trouble.  Guess I figured that part out.

I am no pro when it comes to running, but I know you will just have bad days.  Days that make you want to burn your running shoes and never speak of it again kinds of days.  (I had a day like this at the Route 66 Half, when I suffered from hip pain for the second half of the race.)  I have been feeling so good lately I was unprepared for a day like this.

I did finish the run, even though I had to walk quite a bit after mile 15, and it was not pretty.  My legs are still pretty sore today, and Abby got me out to run 3 really windy and cold miles this morning, and my legs do still work, even if they do still hurt.  I plan on doing some more stretching tonight, and maybe breaking out the knee brace for my right knee for my run on Wednesday morning.

In my humble opinion running is about 90% mental, it's the ability to hit the wall and run right through it that is the hardest part.  Until Saturday I thought I was in a pretty great place mentally when it came to my running, but after 8 miles of that little voice in your head screaming at me that I am crazy the mental side of it all took a pretty big hit.  I am hoping for not a big jump in miles this weekend and no hills to help restore my running sanity.