I RAN 18.5 MILES THIS MORNING AND I SURVIVED!!
Mentally, I was not ready this morning. I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked and I didn't get to prepare as much as I wanted to since I got up later than I wanted. But, I figured that I would just make the most of the long run and get it done. I knew that I would not run the miles on my own and definitely would prefer the support and organization of the group. Plus, my dad runs with the group as well and he picks me up in the mornings so that helps me stay motivated.
I originally planned on just running 16, but it didn't seem like anyone in my group wanted to turn around and go back. One lady turned around, but I figured that I would just try to hang in there and run all 18. We take breaks every two mils to hydrate and there are hydration areas along the way where we can fill up our bottles with water and Gatorade. It's a nice way for me to mentally break up the run in 2 mile increments.
Our group was larger than usual and I think we had 15 total runners. So, I started out in the middle oft the pack in hopes to keep my energy up and not crap out after 13 miles like I had last week. Plus, having a lot of people around helped me stay motivated. I knew that I wouldn't quit or drop back if I had a support group of people around me.
Today, we ran along the Des Plaines River Trial (DPR) North. We ran through Independence Grove in Libertyville and I think we ran past Route 137. We had hydration tanks set up at the 4 mile mark, 6 and then a little over 9. Knowing that those were coming up helped me as well since I knew that I'd get a little break.
And, I can't really describe how I felt, but I felt AWESOME! Mentally, I was on top of it and I didn't have any negative thought cross my mind at all. My legs felt great for the majority of the run. I didn't experience any weird left hip pain (like last week) and my calves weren't burning as much as they were last week. My right ITB started acting up toward the tail end of the run - maybe from Mile 12 to 15, but it wasn't super painful or throwing off my gait in any way.
I was really trying to just focus on remaining calm and focusing on maintaining my form. I would try to remind myself to take deep breathes in and out (like what my pacer Kerl told us during the half I ran in July) and to focus on how many miles I have left and not how many I had already run. Also, I would make sure to take shorter strides going up and down any inclines or declines. I also really tried to keep my arms at my sides and not use them to propel myself forward (unless I was going up or down an incline). And I think that focusing on my form and staying calm really helped me take my mind off the amount of mileage in front of me.
We hit our last hydration tank at mile 15 and I knew that we only had 3 miles left to go. Also, I knew that we would get another little break 2 miles after that. I started to move up toward the front of our group and soon I was running with our leader and another woman who is always toward the front of the pack. We got into a shaded area in the trail where we took our final hydration break. A lot of our group had already dropped back a bit. We lost two runners along the way as well. One guy was going to drop off on purpose, but I don't think that was the intention on the other runner.
Our break was a little long since our group leader decided to turn back to find the missing runner and he told the rest of us to go. So, I started running with another woman and I don't know what happened to me, but I felt really good so I decided to push the pace a bit.
We only had about 1.5 left to go so I figured that I'd take it out a little faster so that I could get the run done. And, the weather was great and my legs were feeling good so I went for it. And, it paid off. I was the first person from our group to finish the run and I felt AWESOME. My legs were a bit sore, but nowhere near as bad as last week. My breathing was good and I wasn't sucking wind, gasping for air or anything like that.
So, overall, AWESOME run! And, we have a CUT BACK week next week (woo hoo!) so we'll only have a minimum of 12 miles to run.
This week has just been awesome! Everything has been going well for me and it's such a GREAT feeling. Hopefully I can duplicate this next week!
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