One more long run behind me......................................

After dinner on Saturday I drove the distance of my ten mile route. One, to check the distance, and two, so I could drop off a bottle of Gatorade in the weeds around the five mile mark. Time to get serious about this training and part of that is to practice with different methods of hydrating. Gatorade makes sense as this is what they supply on race day.

When I returned from mapping out the distance I laid out everything I would need in the morning and packed my waist pack. Water, check. Raisins, check. Crackers, check (really yummy pumpernickel sticks with only 1.5 gm of fat and 1 gm of sugar per 15). Energy bar, check. HR monitor, check. XM portable, phone, sunglasses, check, check, and check! That is just the stuff I carried with me, I also got out all of my clothes etc... As I drifted off to sleep the last words to (my) Mister were , "Make sure the alarm is set for five AM!

Unbelievably I was ready to get up when the alarm went off, and having everything set out and ready helped me to be able to wake up slowly while dressing, instead of having to fight the fog of sleepiness as I try and remember everything I want to take with me.

I headed out the door about 5:25 the roads lit by the streetlights as the sun was nowhere in sight yet. My daughter had suggested I tape and listen to a show from NPR so I started that going as I reached the end of the driveway and settled into a nice slow warm-up jog. Before I knew it the show was ending and close to an hour had passed. How great is that? The problem...I had only covered around three miles in this time. That is like a 17 minute mile pace, and at that pace I would be kicked out of the race. I will listen to the show again, just not while I am running.

Switching to my race music I naturally picked up the pace and before long I had reached my little bottle of Gatorade sitting right where I had left it on the side of the road. It was almost like meeting a little friend. I had planned to take a potty break at this time as well, but one of my favorite tempo songs was playing and I was too lazy to stop the music so I forgot about the potty break and made it to the corner (mile marker # 6) in record speed.

Somewhere around mile 7 I started thinking about my coming week. I still have two extra residents making it impossible for me to do my runs in the morning. I started playing with the notion of doing my Monday run at the tail-end of this ten mile one. I figured it would be a nice work-out and as a bonus it would give me an extra day off to rest and help out my schedule. A win-win all around. Because I had ran so slow I really had all kinds of energy helped along by all the food and drink I was consuming along the way. It was kind of like a party for one.

I made it home (the end of the ten miles) around two and a half hours after I had left, used the bathroom and headed back out for the final three miles. Just after rounding the corner from my house I saw two "chicks" walking pretty far ahead of me. This got me to pick up my pace and I paced them just prior to mile eleven. Knowing they were behind me kept me moving and when I turned back (at 1.5 of the 3 mile loop) and came back towards them a short distance from completing mile twelve I requested applause and they happily obliged me some!

I still felt strong and refreshed as I closed in on mile thirteen, though I will admit to some aches and pains in my legs and feet. I REALLY need those new shoes! As I was finishing that last mile I kept laughing at myself. Who but a crazy fool would get up at 5AM... on a Sunday morning... to run a half-marathon... JUST FOR FUN??? Which took me three hours and fifteen minutes by the way.

This got me to thinking of what I used to do for fun. Everything had to do either with food or with activities done with sitting. Not that I don't partake in those things still, but my adding this activity I have become a more well rounded person.

I am already looking forward to next week's long run. I love the idea of seeing what I have in me, how far I can go, what I can accomplish. If I am feeling this good about myself at this mileage just imagine how big my head will be when I am doing twenty miles at a time!