The Morning After

Another 20+ miler is in the books! 23 miles to be exact. This was supposed to be my weekend long run, but I did it a few days early since I have a lot going on this weekened. It actually turned out MUCH better than my disasterous 20 miler. First of all, it was cooler out which I think made all the difference in the world. Here's the breakdown:

I left the house at 6:00 a.m. with a small bottle of water and did 10 miles. Around 7:00, I decided to text my husband and ask him to bring me another bottle of water..I probably would've been fine without it, but I figured he was getting ready to leave the house anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

So, I returned back home at 10 miles, hit the bathroom, grabbed more water, a bite of my pre-made PB & J sandwich & back out I went. I ran to Linda's house. She agreed to run 10 with me so I had to pick up 3 miles between her house and mine..which I misjudged somehow. Anyway, by the time I got to her house I had 13.5 under my belt and I still felt pretty good. Also, I knew I only really had to run 9.5 now instead of 10 so that made me pretty happy. When we finally reached 9.5, I was DONE and we walked that last half mile to her house. I felt bad that she didn't get her 10 in (although she didn't seem to care), but I was not going to run one step beyond 23 miles!

Anyway, Linda was a real life saver..she planted 3 coolers along our 10 mile route..complete with Gatorade, water and even some snacks. When I got to her house she greeted me with a glass of ice cold water. And, when we finished she went right in and got me some ice cold orange juice. I think we all need a running partner like her!

I ran the first 13 at an 11:10 pace which I was quite pleased with. I did a 4:1 ratio of run/walk. After I stopped at Linda's, we ran the last 10 miles at just under a 13 minute pace..which I know is extremely slow and I didn't mind that. I just wonder if I had been by myself could I have kept up the 11 minute pace? I really don't know. I didn't feel like I could run any faster even if I was by myself which kind of worries me. I want to break 5 hours at the marathon and 13 minute miles is just not going to cut it! In order to break 5 hours I'll have to keep the pace under 11:24. I don't know if that's realistic for me :(

So, I felt quite tired especially during the last 5 miles. My feet were really hurting..they just felt sore and tired. I couldn't wait to take my sneakers off. Later on, my knees felt especially tired..so did the rest of my body! I think that's probably normal for doing something so abnormal ;-)

Did I get a headache? Well, a slight one..but thankfully, it was manageable with ibuprofen.

I came home and sat in my pool (this girl's version of an ice bath) then I laid on a float for a long time. I did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. My kids were out with their grandmother and when they got home we had dinner (which I pre-ordered from a local Italian restaurant - chicken parm!). Even after dinner, I laid around and watched tv. Luckily, the rest of the family was feeling lazy, too so nobody really minded that we didn't do anything.

Today, I feel pretty good actually. Sooo glad it's behind me...just one more long run before the marathon. I'm thinking about my post marathon plans (for 2012)..stay tuned :)

Here are a few vacation photos..