18 Hard Hard Miles

But I did it.

In my chant that I say to get psyched up mentally I say, "I am mind-body-spirit strong." Today I was none of those things.

I basically had myself psyched out from the beginning. All day on Friday I kept thinking about all the reasons why the run would be hard. 1.I was alone. 2.It was 18 miles, the longest I've run. 3.It was going to be rainy 4.I was on a trail that I had a bad run on the last time I was on it. The trail is dreary and boring. Dead brown grass all around, next to a river. 5.I only managed one 5 mile run during the week. (The reason there aren't posts between last Saturday's run and this one.)

So pretty much I hit a wall before I even began. Every step was tough.

But on the bright side, my body(knees,hips) felt surprisingly really good for 18 miles! I felt confident about that. Even tough it was such a tough run, I still managed an average of 10:16 sec. miles.

One of the things that saved me on this run was the fact that at mile 6 the trail turned out to be part of the course of the first half marathon that I ran! It was fun to think about that as I ran along the course. It was miles 10-13 of the half marathon. I was running it backward when I got to it, but when I turned around, then I was running the same direction as I did when I ran the half. So that was fun to think about.

Anyway, glad it's over! And even though it was a very tough run, and I wondered the whole time why I was even doing it, I'm still grateful that I can run. I'm not taking it for granted.

Looking forward to a shorter run next weekend!

16 miles WooooHoooooo!

I ran out on the orting trail for this run. It was so great. I started out with my friend Carla, (Debbie is still injured and I'm getting worried our running days together are over. Poor Debbie), and we ran together for 7.5 miles. We parked her car out at the orting park which was 7 miles from where we started. She wanted to run 8 miles, so that why at 7.5 she turned around and went back to her car. It was nice to run with her. I was dreading running back by myself, but I actually enjoyed it. It was a perfect day for running too! I took gel packs at mile 4.8, 9.8, and 14. I hit a wall at about mile 12 and then put my playlist back to the beginning, because that's where my favorites are, and it really helped. I also used my visualization technique for when I'm tired. I basically imagine myself bursting off the tired outside layer of myself. I actually close my eyes for a second and open them with a burst and say, "poof." I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but it really works. I felt way better and then took a gel pack at mile 14 and boy that really helped too. The first two I took were with no caffeine, because it negatively affects my intestines, and I waited to use the caffeinated one until the end. It works like a miracle. I'm telling you I think my fastest mile was my last mile! The running group that Lindsay belongs to was running on the same trail and they were there at the finish. The head guy saw me a few times along the trail and when just about finished he gave my a little encouragement. I liked that.
As far as my body is concerned, I was really happy. My back did WAY better than I had expected, and I just had the usually aches that go along with running. I was sore the next day, but hey, what else is to be expected? So I'm happy and feeling more confident at this point!!

4 miles

For some reason this was a hard run for me. After 1/4 of a mile, I had decided I was quitting at 1 mile. But when I got to one mile, the Eye of a Tiger song was on so I kept going. Once again I used my chant in my head over and over and I made it four miles. I think the problem was that I wore the most annoying shorts in the world. They are mesh shorts with spandex underneath and the spandex was riding up like crazy. Ugh. I will never wear them again!!! Physically I felt pretty good! Yay.

NOTE: I bought some new chapsticks that were all candy flavors. Nerds, blow pop, laffy taffy, tootsie roll, sugar babies, etc. Well, I put on the grape/strawberry one just before I went into the gym, said hi to the friendly gym guy that knows me by now, and went upstairs to the cardio room. As I got to the top of the stairs I saw myself surrounded by mirrors on every wall and was mortified to see my lips were the brightest eighties style hot pink!!!!! I immediately started wiping them off. Apparently the nerds chapstick does not go on clear. So embarrassing!

6.25 Treadmill Miles

I got to the gym and realized I forgot my iPod, and my Gatorade. Nice huh. But, I repeated my chant over and over in my head and it was all good.

Survival Mode

I figure that I have 4 more weeks to power through and then I have three weeks of tapering until the marathon. That is do-able in my mind. I am totally in survival mode for 4 weeks. I can do it. It doesn't matter anymore what hurts............I'm just going to.....................Git R Done! (I hope you read that how I am saying it in my mind).

So, yesterday I did 3ish cross trainer miles. Is that what that machine is called? It doesn't have moving arm thingies. Maybe it's a cross ramp. Whatever.

Today I did 4 miles on the treadmill. I used my new shoes and am happy to report that they fit perfectly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!! They are wide enough, and long enough. My toes are singing songs they are so happy.

In order to get through the 4 mile today, I moved treadmills twice. Yes, third treadmill is a charm. Biggest Loser Couples was on and I really wanted to be right in front of a TV! Also, I kept saying a little chant to myself. I got the idea from the "Nonrunner Marathon Trainer" book I am reading. It went like that.

I am a marathoner. I love running. I am mind-body-spirit strong. I run for my kids. I run for my husband. I run for ME. I CAN do it. I am a marathoner.

The book suggest repeating your phrase every morning and several time throughout the day, everyday. I love doing it. It totally works.

P.S. My IT band isn't hurting at the moment. I remembered to stretch it today. Hmmm, funny how that works!

7 treadmill miles

I was going to rest on Sat. too, but I just couldn't. My body needed it, but my mind couldn't take it. My back was feeling OK so I thought I would give running a try on the treadmill so that 1)I could stop whenever I needed to 2)I could avoid hills and 3) I wouldn't have to carry my fuel belt around my waist. I should have done 16 miles, planned on doing 12, and ended up doing 7. I had two baptisms to attend in the morning at 10am and 12:30am, so a morning run was out. When I got home from the second baptism, I went to the gym. I was feeling guilty for leaving Nate home AGAIN. So that's why I quit early and my back wasn't hurting, but it wasn't feeling normal either. I figured less was more on this day. I came home super happy that my back wasn't feeling horrible, but then immediately bummed as my IT band starting hurting me pretty good when I got cooled down. Honestly, if it's not one thing, it's another. I'm sick of my body being so lame. I'm really going to try to complain less........ starting tomorrow! :)

Oh, I totally used a gel pack at mile 4.75. Can you just imagine me at the gym eating a gel pack. Too funny.

Rested Thursday and Friday