Saturday was my longest run ever - 15 miles. I was really nervous about it. 15 miles is far. I mapped out my run a few days before to prepare myself mentally. On Friday I drank a lot of water, but went to bed late (David Gray and Ray LaMontagne concert - Amazing musicians!!) so I didn't start running until about 10. It was fine to start this late in the morning because it wasn't very humid. I started my run at the Newark reservoir parking lot and pretty much did a complete tour of the city of Newark. I was really out of breath for the first mile or so... I'm not so sure why. Around mile 3 I started getting terrible "girl cramps," but I worked through it and started feeling good around the 4 mile mark. For most of the run I felt good, besides some leg stiffness and the bottoms of my feet were hurting at about 1:40 minutes of running my feet really started getting tired and all I could think about was sitting down, a cold shower, a swimming pool, Rita's water ice and freeze pops. I knew I had some more work ahead of me before any of these were possibilities. I estimated that I would finished in 2.5 hours and I came in at exactly that time. I stopped a few times to stretch during the run. The course I mapped out was 15.07 miles at at mile 15 I was just ready to be done, but I felt a sense of achievement. I had almost finished running 15 miles! What an accomplishment. Once I was finished my legs really hurt. I drove home and ate a bowl of cereal, tried to stretch out a bit, but I knew it was going to be slow moving for the day. I rebounded pretty quickly and was able to clean my house later that day. The next morning I felt stiffness especially when sitting for long period of times.
Today was back to training. I did an RPM class at the gym, did ab work and some weight training. Tomorrow I'm doing 4 miles miles and looking ahead to Saturday - 18 miles! WOW. I knew I would make it, but it's still crazy to think about running 18 miles. I'm feeling confident this week!! After 15, I'm really getting excited for the marathon. I've decided I'm aiming to run under 4 hours and 15 minutes, but my ultimate goal is to just finish.
Peace. Love. Run.
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