18 MILES!!!!!!!

Yesterday I ran 18 miles. 1-8 Miles.
When I told my cousin Kelli that I was running this distance this weekend her response was "Geez why don't you just run to Gretna!"
Hmmm....
To give you an idea of how incredibly far this is---I went ahead and mapquested the distance from my house to Gretna. Surely that can't be 18 miles. Gretna is at least a 25 if not 30 minute drive from my house. Gretna has got to be MUCH further than 18 miles.
Nope! Apparently the route that Mapquest chose (which we all know is probably unnecessarily long) Gretna is 18.6 miles from my house!
For those reading this that are familiar with Omaha and the surrounding areas this might be impressive. For those of you not familiar with this area--just go ahead and be impressed that I ran this far...
Thankfully Anthony ran with me again. I seriously don't know what I would do without him on these runs--it would be sooooo boring! Its not that Anthony dances, sings, or provides any other form of entertainment while I run, but we can at least talk and take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in this running millions of miles thing.
That and he has a Garmin so I don't have to think about where I'm going. I just run till he tells me to stop and turn around! Its nice. It would be even nicer if I had my own Garmin. But I digress...
Anyway--Anthony and I met at 7am at Peak Performance on 78th & Cass to run the keystone trail. We ran north to Fort street and then ran back to our cars to catch a drink. As we were getting our drinks I told Anthony that I didn't want to know how far we'd gone. In fact I decided that I didn't want to know any distance till we turned around again to head back to the car.
In my mind I thought "we've probably gone at least 5 miles." So even though I didn't want to know our distance the entire rest of the run I tried to estimate where we were in mileage. BAD IDEA.
After this pit stop we ran south on the trail.....and we kept running...and running...and running. I kept saying "are we there yet?" and "Okay so have we gone further than 10 miles? Yes or no?" Anthony would NOT give in till we stopped. But I started to get more and more worried as we passed certain "landmarks" along the way. Again for those of you familiar with Omaha--here are some "landmarks we passed" Pacific Street...ok no problem. Still feeling pretty strong. L street--piece of cake. Q street. hmm. Fun Plex--ok...shouldn't we be turning around by now? And then I said to Anthony "we don't have to run all the way to Seymour Smith ballpark, do we?" And he was like "NO! No way. We'll be done before we hit that."
LIAR.
Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, Anthony stops. "We can turn around now!" he says. "Oh and by the way...there is Seymour Smith ballpark. I guess I was wrong!"
Yeah I GUESS!
So then I think to myself--we've probably done at least 13 miles. Only 5 more to the car. NO. We had only gone 12 miles. (I know "only" 12 miles! But when you are running 18 and you still have another 6 miles to go...hello! I was pissed!)
But I knew it would be ok because I didn't have to wonder anymore--"when will we turn around? When will this be over..." blah blah blah--because I knew where the end point was.
So we turned around and ran...and ran...and ran. And at about mile 14--there was no more talking. We were both just really ready to be done.
We finished the run in 3 hours 12 minutes! Whew! And I can't tell you how incredibly happy I was to stop running! Overall I felt pretty good. Sore and tired, but hey, that's normal, right? Its not every day one runs 18 miles.
THANK GOD.
But I have to say I am proud that I finished the run and that I felt good. Even though my last week of training sucked and my runs didn't go so well, this long run went well and that is the important thing. I consider 18 miles to be a HUGE milestone in my training. One step closer to being ready for 26.2!
This weekend is a "break" in the long runs. We only have to do 13. HA! Just a half-marathon--no biggie!

This kind of sucks

WARNING: (this is mostly for Jeremy) THIS POST WILL BE VERY NEGATIVE. I KNOW THIS WAS MY DECISION TO DO THIS F-ING MARATHON THING, BUT I REALLY NEED TO WHINE RIGHT NOW.

Yeah. There. I said it. This kind of sucks. Training for a marathon actually kind of sucks. Its a roller coaster! A running roller coaster! Everything is up and down--one day you run 5 miles, the next day you run 8...in the middle of the week! One day you feel great...the next day you feel like your legs weigh 500 pounds each and 5 miles seems like 10. One day you feel thin...the next day you eat everything in sight and gain 5 pounds even though you just ran 17 miles!
WTF people?
Ok. To be fair I should not be surprised. I've read the magazines, the books, have friends that have been through this and they all say that this is normal. But its hard to manage! The training takes up lots of time, energy and battery power on my ipod. I feel as if I only ever think about running. Sitting in a meeting at work I think "Man, I can't believe that I have to go home and run." or going to sleep at night "Ok I MUST get up at 6 am when the alarm goes off and run." eating dinner "I shouldn't be eating this because it might hurt my stomach during my run." I'm becoming one of those people who is obsessed with running--only I STILL KIND OF HATE IT!
I seriously have to schedule meetings, time with friends, meals, and sleep around my running. And most Saturday nights I am in bed by 10:00. Its not too fun. True story: Last week I was actually LATE TO WORK because I got up too late and forgot that it would take me MUCH longer than 30 minutes to run 4 miles (because--REMEMBER--I'm SLOW). Yes this could cost me my job!
Also...this may sound crazy...but I have seriously (no, really-SERIOUSLY) GAINED WEIGHT. You would think that the god of running or whatever would at least let me lose some weight after all I go through. Running is NOT a pretty sport. You sweat in places you didn't know had sweat glands, you STINK more than you ever thought you could, your nose runs, you chafe anywhere on your body that clothing touches you (yes that's right--go ahead...picture it) you run in rain, in extreme heat & humidity (poor Kim!), you run even when your ipod stops working, when you run out of Gatorade...hey...you have to drink Gatorade! (Yes you really have to--otherwise you'll die...or you'll feel like you want to die). And you go through all this 4 days a week and...STILL the jeans don't quite fit!
So I could eat less....but hello I'm STARVING! If I'm not thinking about running...I'm thinking about food! See? ROLLER COASTER!
And the really great part? One of those 4 days running--you get up horrifyingly early--usually on a SUNDAY while everyone else in the universe is in bed, or reading the paper or hell--even going to church--to run...A LOT. For example:
Last weekend I was scheduled to run 17 miles. You don't just walk out the door and start running 17 miles. You have to plan. So I got online to figure out how many miles the nearest trail was. Then got in my car and drove to the trail to see how far it was from my house (some of us don't own a Garmin, ok?) then had to calculate how many times I would have to run the trail, turn around and run it again. THEN I had to schedule Jeremy to come bring me water which required me to estimate my pace (which again..hard to do when you don't have a Garmin) so to be safe I overestimated how long 8.5 miles would take me--I figured 1 1/2 hours would be PLENTY of time. But I was WRONG. It took me almost 2 hours and THEN after that I had to run ANOTHER 8 MILES!!!!!!!!
But I did it.
OK....well....I almost did it. I think I was very close...Jeremy's friend Jake who is training for the Omaha Marathon was running on the trail and I begged him to PLEASE run with me because after 12 miles I was really tired of my ipod. So he ran with me and we talked and I totally lost track of where I was in my miles. Anyway--if I didn't do 17 I know I did at least 16 and at that point it was O-V-E-R, I was done and 16 was going to have to be good enough Hal Higdon!

But I have to say in all honesty...that run wasn't THAT bad. The first 8 miles...Wait for it...

I actually felt pretty good! But by 14, 15 I really started to get tired. Which is ok and totally normal and the exact reason you do long runs--to build up your endurance. But at one point when I was still in the first 8 miles I actually--now this was VERY brief--I actually forgot I was running. It was so weird, yet so wonderful! For a brief, shining moment I wasn't thinking "this is boring. this is boring. my legs hurt. i hate this." I actually don't know what I was thinking about, but before I knew it 1/2 a mile had gone by. It was awesome! Who can I pay to make that happen this weekend...for 18 miles? Is that a runner's high? Or maybe that's just my runner's high--temporary amnesia or something.

Ok now on the bright side: I'm getting excited for the race! I watched "Spirit of the Marathon" last weekend about the 2005 Chicago Marathon and I almost cried like 5 times. I haven't been that sore after my long runs, and its kind of fun to be able to say "Yeah last Sunday I ran 17 miles" (shush, it was CLOSE ENOUGH ok) Yes its technically bragging, something I normally despise, but hello--after all the sweating, chafing, Gatorade, time away from my husband and T.V. AND my jeans not fitting...I think I've earned some bragging rights.

Loooong Runs

So the last two weekends my long runs have surpassed the furthest distance I've ever run--which is 13.1 miles. I've trained for and completed 5 Half-Marathons so you'd think that one or two extra miles wouldn't be that big of a deal. BUT IT IS.
You see there is a big difference between training for 13.1 miles and just running that distance as part of a training program. The furthest I've run while training for a half is 10 miles. So I wasn't really looking forward to getting up SUPER early last Saturday to essentially run a half-marathon...by myself.
When I'm getting ready for a race its much easier to prepare--I've tapered my mileage for the week before and gotten lots of rest. But since this is just another week of training I wasn't tapering...during the week I ran 15 miles...and I wasn't feeling all that rested! I was sore and I was really crabby that I had to get up at 5:30 to get the long run out of the way. From now on these long runs are going to take well over 2 1/2 hours...yikes! So I'll have to go to bed early on a Friday or Saturday night, stay away from alcohol, eat only healthy food, and not make plans to go out or put myself in any situation where I might injure myself....which for me means walking down stairs in high heels...Sigh.
But I DID IT!!! I got up early on Saturday...well not as early as I wanted...the alarm was set for 5:30 but...well...come on its SATURDAY! But I wanted to be done with the 14 miles by 9:30 because we were leaving to go camping with friends at 11:00.
The run didn't start too well. I was feeling really tired, lethargic and bored. I brought my ipod but decided to leave it in the car for some reason. After about 10 minutes I regretted that decision but there was no way I was going back for it. But after the 4th mile, I started to feel better! I've officially decided that it takes me 4 miles to warm up. After that I get into my groove and feel pretty good. I wouldn't exactly call it a "runners high" or anything, but I feel like I really settle into my stride, my breathing...its almost peaceful. ALMOST. Don't get me wrong--if someone came up to me at mile 7 and said "I will pay you $25 to stop running now." I would seriously consider it.
After I had gone 11 miles I stopped to get a drink. Which wasn't the best move. You'd think that after 11 miles another three wouldn't seem too bad. But while it might hurt to run, it hurts even worse to start up again. I was really getting sore and tired and, YES--bored so I decided to put on my ipod. DUH. I guess all I needed was a little Rhianna and Black Eyed Peas to get me going because those next three miles flew by! And before I knew it--I had run "the furthest I've ever run!" Woo hoo! I'll be saying this a lot from now on....its exciting! Especially when its over!
Today I ran with Anthony which made things MUCH easier. We definitely ran faster than if I had been by myself but he had his SUPER COOL Garmin GPS/robot/personal trainer thing with him (which I REALLY want and NEED by the way.) so it was fun to be able to accurately track how far we'd gone, our pace and the best part...how many calories we burned!
Anthony is one week ahead of me in his training schedule so he only had to run 11 today. But at least I had someone to run with for the majority of the time which was great. According to his Garmin we did 11.6 miles together. So after he left I did the rest of my run--about 3.5 miles....ok...truth be told it was probably just under 15 miles but I really didn't care at that point. The point is its done.
And next week I only have to run 11 miles! Ha! That is so funny to me...ONLY 11 miles.