Hi

Well, my 20 mile run (the last long run of my training!) is complete. But not without a getting a huge reality check along the way.

Allow me to explain-

Friday night my friend texted me and said that he had a friend that had a free pass for a half-marathon that was to take place the next morning (are you still with me?).  So, of course, I jumped on that opportunity. Running a half-marathon and then adding 7 miles at the end would be a lot better than running the flat greenway back and forth 5 times!

I got in touch with his friend (who is now my friend too <—don’t you love how that happens?) and we agreed to meet the next morning before the race.

We met bright and early the next morning, registered for the race, and talked a bit before it was time to run.

The first part of the race seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, I was reaching mile 9.

But oh-my-GAH, the hills.

Mistake in training #1 – Didn’t do one single run on a hilly course. I’ve been training on a flat surface because I was told that the Savannah, GA marathon has a relatively flat course.

I still should have completed short runs on hills. It increases speed and endurance on long runs.

Oh well!

This race was so hilly! Like a freaking roller coaster.

My legs were getting really tight and tired by the time I reached mile 9. One thing I can be proud of is that I ran the entire race. No stopping! I took baby steps on the hills and I eventually finished in 2:14.

That’s about 5 minutes slower than my first half-marathon, but that’s ok. I’m training for a much bigger goal!

The hills really slowed me down. In the beginning, I was doing about a 9:30 pace, but looking back my average was about a 10:16 pace.

One thing I didn’t like about this race was that every 3 miles, they had a timer up showing you what your time is at that particular moment.

I don’t think about my timing unless a clock is put in front of my face! I didn’t want to know!

Hehe

All in all, it was a good race. Beautiful weather for it!

Afterward, I stretched and then got in my car to drive to the greenway. I wanted to get those last 7 miles done before I lost motivation!

My last 7 miles of training

Mile 14-18 were okay. My legs were in a lot of pain from all of the hills, specifically my calves. I just felt tight all over…like a stretched rubber band. My knees began bothering me a lot around mile 18.

Mile 18-20: Pure. Hell. Hell, I tell you!

Oh my Lord, why didn’t someone warn me about the pain?!!

Okay, so mile 18 I stop and stretch out my knees and begin walking after every half mile.  My strides have become baby steps.  A light jog.

Mile 19: My entire body feels so heavy and it takes all of the effort I have just to put one foot in front of the other.  I “run”, walk, stretch. And repeat.

Mile 20: My knees are hurting, my joints feel inflamed. I can feel all of the muscles in my legs. My right leg keeps wanting to give out on me (not sure what  that’s about…??). I finally finish.

Maybe it was because I had just ran 13 miles of back to back hills, or maybe it’s because I just ran 20 miles…but goodness gracious. After this run, I thought about my marathon goals and made some serious revisions!

• WALK. I hadn’t planned on walking any during my marathon, but pshhh, yeah right! Now I plan to walk after 10 miles. 6 miles. 4 miles. And then every 2 until I finish.
• Eat more. All I ate the entire 20 miles was a pack of Cliff blocks and two pieces of bread. I have trouble eating when I’m doing long runs because I don’t feel hungry. During my marathon, I plan to eat every time I stop to walk.
• Don’t focus on time. Finish in under 4 hours, yeah right!  It would be awesome if I did, but I just want to finish. Without injury.
• Take in the experience. Do not focus on how many other people are flying past you and how “slow you are”, your in a city you’ve never been before! Take it in!

After all is said and done-

I don’t think I’m going to do another marathon after this one.

I felt really bad for putting my body through all of the pain I did on Saturday. (I found myself apologizing to my body: “Come on, please. I’m sorry I’m doing this to you! Just get me through these last two miles..). It’s such wear and tear! I want to have strong bones and healthy joints, but it’s starting to feel like running 26.2 miles is too much to put on a body (in my opinion). I like the half-marathon distance because right when it starts to hurt- you’re done!

I may be eating my words come next year, but who knows?

Only 11 more days until the race! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!

In other news-

Jason and I took updated “family portraits” this weekend! Now that we have Sophie, we thought it only fitting to redo our old family photo so that we could include her.

Here are the the trial shots:

(Biting me- I love the look on my other cats face )

(Picture a cat falling out on the floor in a temper tantrum, this is what it would look like. “But I don’t want to take a family photo!” <—said in whiniest voice possible)

The end product:

She’s growling in this pic, but at least she’s looking at the camera!

Time to get ready for school! See ya later this week with a recipe!

How did your first 20-miler go? Are you a one-time marathoner, or is it addicting like everyone says? Do you take family photos with your fur children? (Please say you do)

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