If Johnny jumped off a bridge, would you too?

WOW, a girl goes away for a few days and it takes me nearly a full day to half-ass catch up in blog land.  There's been a lot going on out there.  Thanks to those who missed me and sent me messages. :)

Congrats to everyone who ran races this weekend.  So many great race reports out there!

What another beautiful weekend.  The weather was perfect.  I love these fall days when there is no rain and the temperature is crisp. 

On Saturday I went out for an "easy" 5 mile run.  My plan was to keep the pace between about 9:30 to 10:00 miles/min.  The first mile was about 9:20 and I figured I would probably slow down a bit after that.  But by mile 2, I had picked it up and had an average pace of 9:10.  I kept trying to slow it down, but apparently my legs were having none of it.  I ended up with an average pace of 9:06 ... 45:36.  At least it felt easy so I won't complain.

Sunday I had planned to run at least 10 miles.  As I said in my last post, I haven't run double digits since April.  I say I planned at least 10 miles because in the back of my mind I kind of wanted to up that to 11. 

We were in Penticton, home of Ironman Canada, and I had planned to run part of the Ironman run course along the east side of Skaha Lake.  I have never been down that road before and I've heard it's quite scenic.  However, with me and my issues I knew I needed access to a washroom at some point within the first 3 miles so I had to take a slightly different route.  Really, no matter where you run in Penticton it's beautiful.

On the drive up there my friend called and said that since I was going to run 11 miles this weekend, she was going to sign up for a half marathon at home.  Keep in mind this is my friend who is just back to running and ran her first 5K back 3 weeks ago, and her first 10K back last week.  She's a crazy woman!  However, she has the mental side of running nailed down and knows to take it easy so she doesn't end up hurt.  She finished in 2:23, pretty impressive if you ask me.

Well, I'm not one to leave that on the plate ... so I too decided to run the half marathon distance!  I'm horribly competitive - hahaha.

It was done carefully, and I didn't "race" it.  After the first mile I stopped and had a 2 minute stretch break to loosen things up.  My legs felt horribly heavy and I needed it.  Then at mile 3 was a potty break for me and at mile 4 was a potty break for the hubs.

Mile 8-10 were the hardest.  Thankfully it was also the most scenic.  We were running right along the lake on a winding road.  Pretty!  At 8.5 miles we turned around and did take a 30 sec break.  We were feeling DONE.  However, after that break I started to feel a bit better.

Mile 11-13.1 was run along the main road in town.  Boring, boring, boring.  For a regular run it might be OK, but at that distance my mind needed something interesting.  My parents drove by at Mile 12 and I had to dig a bit deep to not jump into their car and call it a day.

In the end our running time was 2:02:41 (9:21 pace), this was not including stretch & potty breaks.  Hubby says this is not a fair way to calculate time, but for training runs I have always done it that way.  I know during a race the clock does not stop, but in a race I don't typically stop either.  It works for me.

That evening my whole legs were pretty achy.  Not sore in any particular spot, but achy - like you feel when you have the flu.  Twice during the night my husband actually massaged and stretched my legs.  Awww!  He's really quite sweet for that.  However, I did get up around 4AM and took a tylenol.  After that the ache resided and I felt comfortable for the rest of the day.

I'm actually REALLY happy that I challenged this 13.1 miles now.  I'm one who likes to run a full distance before a race.  And with my half coming up mid November, this is good for me mentally.  I now know I can do it, and unless something goes wrong, I should be able to finish under 2 hours.

18 miles in 2 days ... yup, I like it.

Keep Active!

Heidi

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