"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." - Nietzsche
Man, oh man.. I am BEAT.
I realized as I was running today that this was the first time I had run over 14 miles straight. I had those two weeks where I had to split up my long runs (as I look back, I wish I hadn't) and then I only made it 13 miles on the 17 mile Children's Run when I got hurt. After last week's half I was feeling very confident that I could accomplish this, but it was still a little hard to stop myself when everyone else was going for 19 miles today.
The conditions were AWFUL. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. I have to keep telling myself that you never know what kind of weather you will encounter on race day and have to be prepared for everything. But come on... especially after having the nice weather in Florida last week, this felt like hell. It wasn't the rain that was so bad (though I was SOAKED by the time I finished), but the wind was absolutely wicked! I could hear it screaming by my ears even as I was listening to my ipod. At points it felt like I wasn't even going anywhere it was blowing so hard. Being on the water didn't help much, but boy, it was tough.
I told this girl, Alexis, today that she was my savior on this run. First, she was running ahead of me and I noticed as I passed her that she was looking around like, "where is the rest of the group?" After a few seconds I looked back and saw her backtracking and decided to follow. So I did, and FINALLY found the little path to go under the bridge we had gone OVER and continue around the Charles that I've missed the past couple times Rick has made this route. I finally caught up to her around mile 8 and thanked her for putting us back on the course, and she offered me some water and chocolate covered pretzels since we hadn't hit a water stop yet. At one point she shoved a silver package into my hand and was like, "TAKE THESE! You'll need them!" I looked down, thinking it was a gel goo or something, but it was the fruit Shark Bitess I used to eat (and love!) when I was little. I think I'll invest in some the next time I'm at the grocery store...
A group of us continued on the Cambridge side of the Charles until we got to the Longfellow bridge and crossed over. I decided at mile 13.5 I would turn back and make my way back to the gym. At about 12.5 I was at 2:05 (my last half marathon time) so I was pretty psyched about the pace I had kept up. I overestimated how long it would take me to get back, so I ended up putting in the extra half mile at the end. I felt pretty good afterward, pain-wise, but was absolutely soaked and freezing. Luckily I had at least thought to bring two long sleeve shirts to wear after. I did a little bit of stretching, ate a peanut butter/pretzel Mojo bar, picked up a chocolate milk on the way to my car, and now here I lay: showered, foot elevated, exhausted, but ok. We'll see how I do for 17 next week!
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