18 miles! (10.16.11)

I started my run with Adrienne and the North Park Runners.  Adrienne ran a half marathon yesterday so she was only going to run 10 with me, but offered to meet me and see what this whole North Park Runners was all about. I figured the running group ran the normal loop around the lake.  I was wrong.  They started at the loop but then they go up this big hill. We didn't go fast but still that hill was big and probably not the best way to start such a long run.

I learned the details of the runners club. They meet every Saturday and Sunday at 8am. There are a few that meet at 7am when they are training for something but since it is dark at 7 now few do.  They run the same loop every Sunday. They run a different loop but the same one every Saturday.  A few of the people are the same every week but each week there are a few different people too.

I forgot to hit start on my timer! I thought I did, but didn't verify it started. I finally hit start after after running a quarter mile.  By the end I asked someone else what her watch said and I added that in at the end of my data.

The Sunday loop is what they call their 8 mile loop but it was only 7.87 miles according to Garmin watches. My watch said 7.6 so I had to add some on at the end to get the correct data.   I reset my timer when I started my last 10 miles just so I could easily account for my mistake at the beginning.

At the end of the run with others, I went and got my water belt and headed out for 2 loops around the lake.  I ran the first mile then did 4:30-1 ratio of run:walk for awhile then at 4 miles I switched to 4:1.

I played a game in my head like I did last time, but this time I was never hitting my goal.   My first goal was 10:20 pace.  My next goal was 10:40 pace. I still did math in my head and added up how many seconds I was behind. Sometimes I almost caught up. The last 2 miles were rough though. When I was running I felt like I was going in slow motion.  My pace was 10:22 unless you don't count the walk at the end to slow my heart rate (I don't think I should count it) and then I had 10:19 pace which is pretty close to my goal initially. It is worse than I had last week but last week I didn't run 8 miles of it while talking to someone (that slows your pace) or run the first 1.25 miles uphill with more of a climb than 99% of my runs.

All the way up to mile 16, I thought that I could easily go 20 and maybe I'd make my run into a longer run but then I struggled so much at the end. I did decided that at the very least I would run past my stopping point to double back a little to at least make it an even 18 (I had .13 to make-up).  At least I didn't back down from doing that.  I considered changing my run:walk ratio but I was so close to the end that I just stuck with it.  Perhaps I struggled so much at the end due to my lack of nutrition.  You are supposed to eat 5-10 energy chews (I call them gummies) every hour of running and I ate 5 total during the entire run.

So my first run 18 miles long and I added a little bit to it! I was looking at my BodyMedia fit and I still need to do 4000 more steps to hit a new personal best for a day. I'm a little disappointed by that.

Besides the route that was the same as the normal loop and the little bit by the ice rink, I had never been on the roads before. I almost wanted to drive on them after I was done just to see what I did.

New Loop

One of the people that was in the running group had won the Great Race for females.  I'm not sure which year but it was awhile ago.  The running group had 3 groups. One group had females, another group males, until one guy decided to run with us.  I forgot the demographic of the third group because they ran much faster and were out of site within the first quarter mile.  I don't know how they normally divide out but that is what they did.

Normal Loop

Previous long runs (runs longer than 9:

1. 30k (3/26/11-18.9 miles according to my garmin) 
2. 16.17 (10/8) 
3. 15 miles (with Christina on 3/13)
4. 13.1 miles (5/2/10 Pittsburgh Half Marathon)
5. 13 miles (9/11 - had to walk the last 2)
6. 11.5 miles (10/2)
7. 10.9 (6/12/10 part of Callie's Ultra)
8. 10.07 miles (7/31)
9. 10.01 (2/5)
10. 10 (4/18/10 with Liza)
11. 9.65 (4/4/10)
12. 9.18 (2/20)

Today my knee started hurting just a little bit into the run. It never got really bad but it just hurt a little bit the entire way. I iced it when I got home.

The weather was a little chilly and I wasn't sure what to wear when I ran. I went with tank+ long sleeve shirt + capris.  That was similar to what everyone else was wearing or they just had on a short sleeve shirt, but then they all had on gloves.  Short sleeves + gloves seems weird to me but I might try it out next time.

The last 2 miles were so hard that I can't imagine what 8 more miles would be like on top of that. I have a month and 4 days until the marathon!

Poly always hangs out with me when I analyze my data.  I don't understand it but she seems to always want to sleep on my lap when I'm super sweaty from a run.

All in all my 18 mile run was a success.

After the run and I don't even look dead.