Monday, August 27, 2012

Run 1.57 - Twenty-Two??

I'm pretty excited for a couple reasons:

a) I have now completed my longest run before the Portland Marathon. The next time I hit a new distance I will be rewarded with cheering people, a space blanket, a medal, drinks, snacks, a flower, a shirt, a coin, a pendant and a rose. Not too shabby! and
b) Next weekend I am NOT running AT ALL! I will be completely without my Garmin and running shoes ... instead dancing, drinking and wandering around fabulous Las Vegas!

Reason "b)" was the BIG motivator yesterday during my 22 mile run with Man Friend. Finally we got to run together again!! And thank goodness. I'm not sure how entertaining 22 miles on my own would be right now. "6 days to Vegas!" "Vegas, Vegas, VEGAS!!!" "I cannot wait to go to Vegas!" --- This pretty much sums up the conversations MF and I had. And let me tell you, after my Garmin beeped for the final time I felt like I really did earn this spontaneous getaway to Sin City!

So the run -- it was actually pretty good!! The day before I co-hosted the annual Jimmy Buffett party, which meant I was on my feet all day long working the crowd and making sure everyone was having a good time. Shockingly I had ONE Bacardi Raz and that's it. The rest of the time it was only 1 Diet Pepsi and then just water. I was pretty serious about my preparation for this run and so I made sure water was my friend. By 9pm I was exhausted and ready for sleep. I think we got permission to go home around 10pm, at which point we just crashed. The alarm went off at 7 and soon we were up ready to do better fueling than last weekend's 20 miler.


This time we each had a toasted bagel, banana and a few nibbles of some scalloped potatoes I found in the fridge. It was actually all really good and kept us going through the entire run! Again we had our fuel belts full of 2 gels and 1 pack of chews each, and then a bottle of electrolytes and a bottle of water. I guess for this run my concern wasn't the running. I know how to run. My goal for these long training runs is to figure out what works best for me as far as staying fueled for the marathon. I feel like I had some success with this and will work with it again on my next 20 mile run. We hit the park water fountain a couple times to refill and then discovered a spigot over at the high school by the track, so we utilized that twice. I managed to ration my PowerAde so it would last the full distance!

Run wise we were doing great. We were both tired due to the party, the great (yet fast) runs we each had during the week, and then poor MF -- he is doing nights for a couple weeks while they re-stripe the roads. He seriously sleeps maybe 4 hours? So yeah, he was tired - especially since Friday he was busy at a wedding and dancing for 4 hours non-stop. ANYWAY, sorry for the tangent ... we decided to ... do the Galloway(!!!) when we were dragging, and that really helped - and actually made the miles seem to just fly by. Our splits even seemed to speed up while doing that. We both started feeling it around mile 19. We were on a bad surface that was taking it's toll on our bodies and I think we'll probably avoid that area from now on. Once on a good surface we started to feel like ourselves again, and basically told each other how awesome we are and that we WERE going to finish strong! And so we did!

Showers. Pizza. Pasta salad. Titanic. That's how our post-run activities went. It was a GREAT day and you know what? I think we just might finish this marathon after all!!

Did someone say Vegas?

7 comments:

  1. Can you get Nuun in your little 'burg? You might try fueling with that, that way you can add electrolytes when you only have access to H2O out on the road. I like the fruit punch flavor. GU Brew also has the same kind of tablets. I like to carry a couple in reserve for marathons in case I start to cramp up or otherwise start dragging, but then if you need/want just water you have that option as well.

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  2. awesome run!!! :) CONGRATS!! Have fun in Vegas!! :)

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  3. Have fun..after 22 miles, you deserve it!

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  4. Wow!! Great run!! So impressed with 22 miles!! And have fun in VEGAS!!!

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    1. VEGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



      I should really pack. Seriously. I mean I leave so soon.

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  5. Wow! 22 miles! Great job. I hope you have a fabulous time in Vegas - take lots of pictures!

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