Weeky Twenty-Two: 26, yes, 26 miles! -- CarenClark.com Message Board

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Date Posted: 00:48:38 10/01/02 Tue
Author: Caren
Subject:

Weeky Twenty-Two: 26, yes, 26 miles!

Well, I did it!!!! I completed an entire 26-mile training run on Sunday. It was long, it was tough, but it happened. However, as far as runs go, I still say the 18-mile run was my absolute worst. All things considered, I felt pretty good for the 26.

Ok, lots to talk about for this run, so I'll start at the beginning. First, I'll run down my weekly injury report. It's always something, isn't it? For about the last month, I've been having a weird shooting pain in the side of my lower left leg. It doesn't feel like a muscle sprain or strain, but I can't quite pinpoint what the problem is. I wondered at first if it could be a stress fracture, but it doesn't hurt to touch the leg and stress fractures usually come with spot pain. However, just in case that's what I'm dealing with, I decided to take it extra easy on my maintenance runs, with the goal of making it through the 26-mile training run and the marathon itself. I stayed off it for a week and it started to feel better. I also started taking extra calcium. Figure it can't hurt.

It was feeling pretty good until the 26-mile run. Unfortunately, it started to hurt during the run, but the pain was very manageable, so I wasn't too bothered. Today, the day after the run, it hurts like hell, but I figure I can mostly take it easy now until the marathon. Gives me a month to heal, which should be plenty of time.

Besides the weird leg pain, the only other thing to note is that I hydrated like crazy the week before the run. I tried to drink at least 100 ounces of water each day, and drank 200 ounces the few days before. Despite all this, I still managed to get a little dehydrated during the run. I was being bad: since the weather was cool at the start of the run, I probably didn�t drink as much as I should have.

Speaking of cool weather, it was so wonderful to be able to do a long run in good weather! It was downright COLD that early in the morning. I could see my breath. Ahhh�glorious! What a difference it makes. (Too bad it didn�t last. It was sunny and warm by noon.)

Another great part of the run is that all the runners in the AIDS Marathon program were gathered together at a single run site for this final long run. It was a big party. Hundreds of people, signs, balloons, a staff member wearing a cheerleading outfit (don�t ask). Since it was so dark that early in the morning, they had lighted the path through the woods to the meeting place with dozens of paperbags with tealights inside (like for Halloween). At the risk of sounding sappy, it was really lovely and special to walk down that path.

The run site itself was also great. We ran at East Falls Church and the trail was in fantastic condition. The scenery was terrific�wildflowers, creeks, woods.

This brings us to the run itself. As with our other long runs, the coaches slowed down our pace by two minutes, so we ended up running 16:30 miles. At first that felt way too slow, and we really had to force ourselves to keep going slowly, but by the end we were all very grateful for the slow pace.

The first 6 miles were a breeze. I hardly noticed them. Felt great. Miles 6-12 were really boring. Miles 12-16 sucked so bad. The worst feeling is when you�ve already been out there for a few hours, you�ve done some significant mileage, yet you still have sooooooooo far to go. It�s the most discouraging time and it�s when the sneaky little voice in my head kept trying to tell me to call it quits. Somehow, I just plowed on (those miles are kind of a blur now) and eventually reached the turnaround point. I LOVE reaching the turnaround of a run. Mentally, it helps me so much! From the turnaround, we had 10 miles to reach the finish. As strange as this sounds now, I don�t think of 10 miles as a long way.

From that point on, my spirit and energy were very high. My body, however, was hurting bigtime. Pain city. Just soooo tired. Soooo sore. Every step pain. Pound. Pain. Pound. Pain. I�d stop for a bathroom break or water break and my muscles would instantly start to stiffen. It got to the point where none of us wanted to stop moving, even for a second.

With about 7 miles to go, I got very happy again. I guess we were probably a little delirious LOL. My group�s song collection that day included Copa Cabana, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, and the Oscar Mayer weiner song. There�s nothing like being serenaded by a big group of sweaty, achy runners.

The last 5 miles were kind of fun. I think we all realized that we were *almost* there and that, in about another hour, we were going to be able to say we�d run 26 miles! We pushed on and, somehow, the finish line was straight ahead. We ran in strong, to lots of people clapping and cheering. They�d even set up a finish line with a balloon arch! It was great!

After passing under the arch, we were given AIDS Marathon finishing medals. I love that I now have a little collection of running medals. Lots of congratulations and hugs after that. Even some tears. I managed to hold it together. It wasn�t until the drive home that my accomplishment hit me and I let some happy waterworks fly. I guarantee I�ll be an emotional basketcase after the marathon.

I spent the rest of the day going back and forth between big, cheesy grins of pride and weird grimaces of pain. Because, let me tell you, I have *never* been as stiff and sore in my life. Never. It hurt to move. It hurt to sit still. It hurt to breathe. It�s almost scary to wonder how sore I�ll be after running the marathon at all-out exertion!

The 26-mile training run, at the slower pace, and with lots of bathroom and water breaks, took my group almost 8 hours (ugh!!!). Factoring in cooler weather, adrenaline, crowd support, fewer breaks, and a faster 14 or 14:30 race pace, I hope to finish the actual marathon in under 6 1/2 hours. They say you�re not supposed to set a time goal for your first marathon and that your only goal should be to finish. But I still would like to finish around 6 hours if I could. I guess we�ll see... :)

By the way, have I mentioned I�m considering signing up for the DC Marathon in March?

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[> WTG Ms. Clark! -- Jann, 16:40:50 10/01/02 Tue

Twenty six miles is very impressive.

Also, congrats on exceeding your fundraising goal!

Jann

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[> [> Thanks, Jann! :) -- Caren, 19:19:18 10/01/02 Tue

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