Going strong

The last few training weekends have gone great (for the most part). Last weekend was 10 miles & it just so happened that autumn decided to arrive that morning. I was so. f'ing. excited!!! The temperature was in the 50's with little humidity. Perfect for an early morning run. I got to the park around 5:50 am & as soon as I got there, the walkers were ready to take off. I got the quick low-down on the route (it was a new one that I'd never run before & since it was so dark, I really wanted to make sure I didn't get lost). We took off at 5:55. My coach had me go ahead of everyone so she could go over the route in more detail with me & I guess so I could lead the pack. At about the 1/2 mile point, she stopped to show one of the girls where the restrooms were and I never saw her again for the rest of the day.

Thanks to the crisp cool air, I was going at a really strong pace (cold weather energizes me). For the 1st 2 miles, I walked, then as soon as I left the park & got onto the roads, I started the interval timer on my watch & started running. I ended up at the end of a huge pack of Houston FIT runners. (For a minute, the coach thought I was one of theirs.) They quickly passed me & before I knew it, I was all alone. It was a bit scary for a while there because there weren't a lot of cars on the road & the path I was on (which had thick woods to the right) wasn't very well lit, but it wasn't too long before I made it to the freeway. There was supposed to be a water stop at the Shell station on the other side of the freeway, but I was there so early that nobody had set it up yet. Thankfully I had my fuel belt with me so I could keep hydrated.

With it being so dark out, it was a little hard to get my bearings & tell exactly where I was (my night vision isn't too keen) but I knew the general direction was right. After about 4 miles, I ran into coach Bill walking the other way. He was surprised to see me so far ahead of the pack & said "Hey there Speedo! You're going GREAT!" Turns out the next water stop was just 2 blocks up. I stopped for a quick drink & refilled one of my fuel bottles & continued on. I was doing my 3:1's (walk:run) & feeling SO good! I felt like I could go on forever. I was out there for a good 90 minutes before any of the runners caught up to me (& of course passed me). I was loving this route... it went through a gorgeous neighborhood that had a huge median down the main road with a running path down the center of the median. It was so beautifully kept & a real treat to run through. At one point, Bill drove by & dropped another coach, Anne, off on the trail. She ran with me for a bit & said I was doing great. Apparently Bill even asked "what did she put in her Kool-Aid this morning?" LOL!

By the time I got to the last water station, I really had no idea how far I'd gone. I asked Carissa (who was manning the sation) how much farther I had to go & she said "only 3 miles!" 3 miles? Seriously? That's it? Awesome! I was amazed at how well I'd done. I quickly ran across the street to the convenience store for a "pit stop" & went back on my way. By the time I got back to the freeway, more runners were passing me, but I didn't care. I felt like I was having the best run of my life. By the time I hit the park again, I had suddenly got pretty tired & was walking a little slower. One of my mentees & a friend ran up behind me & walked with me for a little bit, then ran ahead. I ran for a little more, but wasn't nearly as fast as them, but again I didn't care. When I got back to the starting point, I realized that I'd done the whole run in 3 hours (21 mins/mile. I'd never really looked at my watch as I ran. I just listened for the beeps so I'd know when to walk/run.) Not as fast as I'd thought, but still, not too shabby for me either. And what was really great was the fact that even though I was tired, my body felt great. My legs didn't really hurt & my knee felt fine. I just had a bit of a blister forming on the inside of my right heel. The only problem I had was with my breathing. After a run & especially in cold weather, if I breathe in too deep, I go into a coughing spasm. It's sort of a form of exercise induced asthma. Thankfully I was able to stop myself from breathing in too hard so I didn't cough for too long.

By the time I got home (a bunch of us went to breakfast afterwards) my knee was starting to hurt & I was pretty damn tired so I wrapped an ice pack around my knee & took a nap. When I got up, my knee was still sore, but better. By the next day, it was completely fine. I knew it would be fine for the race the following weekend.