Stepping into the 20s

Six weeks ago I wasn't sure if this marathon was going to happen. I'm happy to say that on Saturday I survived my 20-miler, and felt strong in doing so.

The 20-miler came after yet another rough week. For a number of reasons I was feeling under the weather, sick and fatigued. Last Monday I ran one mile, went to spin, and couldn't run after. Last Tuesday I came home from work with full intentions of running, instead I collapsed on my couch and it took every ounce of energy I had even to walk the dog. Wednesday was worse, but by the time I got home from work Thursday I was feeling strong again, so I went out for an 8 mile run/walk in addition to spin.

Friday I was feeling good again, but I took the day off from running and just did spin.

After all this, I wasn't looking forward to Saturday's run. At all. I lined up with the 12s, and grouchily slugged through my first couple miles, Matt & Kim blaring in my ears. I'll admit to being kind of mad that I wasn't with my old group, I had no idea how I was going to survive 20 miles, so I kept to myself for awhile.

About three miles in, I thought the woman running next to me was texting while running (she was just using the GPS on her phone) so I pulled out the earplugs and said something like "how on earth do you do that?" That was enough to spur some conversation, with her then others in the group, and before I knew it we were closing in on 10 miles. We're approaching Antrim on the return trip and tiny barefoot Michele H. is coming in our direction. The coaches split the run for us so the two of us running 20 would have company.

Those training for Cap City ran 10 on Saturday. The group I was running with was so upbeat and so inspiring, and it ended up being a cool run to do because this was the first time many of them stepped into double digits.

Michele had two others with her that slept in a bit before doing their 10. So Kate and I, the sole two in the 12-minute group, had even more company for the remainder of our run.

We waved goodbye to the rest of the group, and our five-pack went past the school and north toward the gazebo. I'm feeling strong at the halfway point, but by the time we got to the water stop at the gazebo at Mile 13 I'm starting to fade. It's a horrible feeling at that point -- you've gone so far yet you're nowhere near done.

I slugged it through the next four miles. At some point in this trek we lost Michele in her quest for a port-a-john, and when we got to Antrim we said goodbye to the two girls who got a late start on their 10. It's just myself and Kate now, and we have three miles to go. I can't feel my legs anymore. I'm exhausted, starving, and my bad mood is coming back.  This is when I'd benefit from the chatter of a big group, but instead this is the quietest part of the run.

We keep on slugging, then someone comes storming up behind us. It's Michele, cheery and energetic as always! We turn around by the bridge, and she gets us through the rest of the run, going a total of five miles over her prescribed eight. Superwoman!

My watch made the glorious beeping sound for Mile 20 and we promptly stopped. It took us 4:00:38. Normally I'd bemoan those 38 seconds, kicking myself for not picking it up just a tiny bit to beat four hours, but on Saturday I didn't care... because I ran 20 miles!

Another 20-miler for the books

The step up to 20 miles, the second longest run of the season, is a rough one.

It's the big 2-0. You're no longer in the teens. You're in the big leagues.

It's funny. I remember this as last season's most miserable run. I remember trying to leg out the last little bit with the 10:30s but feeling so tired that I just wanted to quit.

But my blog from the day says something different.

"Mentally I'm feeling great, race day is approaching very quickly and getting past 20 was a huge confidence-boost for the 26.2...

"...After the water stop at Mile 16 I dropped back with another girl in our group and we fell back to about an 11:30 pace. Two others that started early with us also ended up dropping back and we did our last three miles very slowly. We were all really hurting. It was a struggle to keep conversation going just to pass the time. 

"But that's ok, we got the time on our feet in, we did it, that's all that matters. And, when we got back to the school, there were all kinds of wonderful supportive people there to greet us."

The dynamics of the runs were the same too, in the sense that they came after really, really rough weeks.

But this time, I felt great for the entire run.

The beginning was the same as every other long run. Things were achy and my mind couldn't wrap itself around the fact that my legs had so much more to go. The mental block would have hit if it weren't for the people around me.

And, as usual, I settled in. At the midway point I was feeling strong, and with 6 miles to go I felt like pushing myself a little further. Perfect timing, the 10:00 team was coming in the other direction so I jumped ship. Another 10:30 sped up with me, and since our distances were off from the 10s we ended up doing the last 2 on our own. We kicked it up to a 9:30 pace and ended up with an average of 10:15.

Time and heart rate splits:
Mile 1: 10:47, 164 bpm
Mile 2: 10:41, 154 bpm
Mile 3: 10:40, 152 bpm
Mile 4: 10:42, 160 bpm
Mile 5: 10:21, 155 bpm
Mile 6: 10:07, 155 bpm
Mile 7: 9:46, 158 bpm
Mile 8: 10:19, 158 bpm
Mile 9: 10:23, 157 bpm
Mile 10: 10:25, 156 bpm
Mile 11: 10:29, 156 bpm
Mile 12: 10:15, 160 bpm
Mile 13: 10:10, 164 bpm
Mile 14: 10:18, 167 bpm
Mile 15: 10:15, 164 bpm
Mile 16: 10:06, 166 bpm
Mile 17: 10:12, 169 bpm
Mile 18: 10:26, 167 bpm
Mile 19: 9:29, 171 bpm
Mile 20: 9:03, 175 bpm

Bring it, Columbus!!!

Hitting the big 2-0... Now, I feel better

Today, I got up at 4:30 a.m. and ran 20 miles. Mentally I'm feeling great, race day is approaching very quickly and getting past 20 was a huge confidence-boost for the 26.2. Physically, my legs feel pretty much like you'd expect them to feel after running 20 miles.

This week was also my first 40-mile week.

The Cleveland Marathon is now 35 days away. May 15. Just over a month from now.

Most of the full marathoners were going early so I sucked it up, woke up at 4:30, and was at Thomas Worthington at 6. The first 9 miles were very peaceful, we ran on the Olentangy Trail to the gazebo, up through Worthington Hills and back to the school. Worthington Hill wasn't that bad the first time. The fatigue started to hit as we went up the hill to the school.

We met up with the full 10:30 MIT crew at 8 back at the school and headed out again. Things were starting to get sore, but I was distracted for the next three miles because the whole group was with us and they, just starting out, had a lot of energy.  (continued)