Saturday, November 7, 2009

Uncharted Territory

Prior to today, the longest I had ever run in one stretch was 10.5 miles. That was as far as Megan and I got in our long runs last year. And I don't think we even got that far in last year's half before we took a walk break.

But this morning, starting at 6:00 am, I completed my first 12 mile run. Twelve miles. Two hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-four seconds. OF RUNNING.

So I'm in some pain right now.

My new shoes worked wonders on my joints, and I'm happy to report that I'm currently experiencing minimal knee and ankle pain. But my feet. My feet started to hurt about 4 miles in. Damn those hard new shoes! I remember last year after the half, I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I could not stand up straight my feet and knees hurt so badly. So I'm guessing I won't know the full level of damage I've done to myself today until I wake up in the middle of the night tonight.

About 8 miles, I hit a low point and basically wanted to die. But around 9 there was a water break, and we stopped for about 20 seconds to down a cup (since this is not like a race where you can drink as you run and just throw your cup to the side of the road...this is the extremely nice people at Breakaway spending their Saturday morning standing around waiting for our sorry selves to drag in to the water stand they've set up) and after that, I felt a lot better.

I was running with two friends I run with most weeks, but this week they added the variable of complaining. A lot. About everything. And on the last leg of a run, it is a horrible, horrible thing to have to listen to people talk about how bad things are. I already knew how bad things were. I could feel it in my body. The only way my body could keep going was if my mind muted its complaints, and it was hard to do that when my mind was being inundated by negative conversation!

I left them in the last mile or so, running just far enough ahead so I couldn't hear them.

We were running a 6 mile loop twice and to break up the monotony the three of us decided to run the loop backwards the second time. The second mile of the loop was extremely hilly, so the downside to our plan was that going backwards put those hills in our 11th mile (instead of our 7th). Again, I felt like dying a little. (And this was the point at which I made a conscious effort to get ahead of the others.)

The other thing is that (as you know) I always wear a pedometer when I run because our routes are mapped by Google and the distances always clock in a tad longer than estimated. We didn't quite complete the first loop before we turned around because, after being asked, I checked my pedometer and we were at 6.2 miles. So we were fine to go ahead and turn around.

But my running mates kept asking for the distance! "How far, Becky?" "What mile are we on, Becky?" "Let us know when we hit 12 miles, Becky!" I never, ever look at my pedometer while I run (too psychologically damaging), but I think that opening and closing it while I was running screwed up the mileage because we were just at 12 miles when we finished when we should have been at at least 12.5.

So really, I have no idea how the hell long I ran, but I'm going to conservatively say 12 because that's what I was supposed to have done.

The lesson of the day is that I may actually prefer running solo to running with people who are talking about the wrong things.

I went to Walgreens yesterday and bought myself a bag of Skittles as an after-run treat. A lot of runners are all like, "Oh, I only eat fruit after I run." Like that makes them awesome people or something.

Fuck that. I just ran 12 miles. I have EARNED these Skittles.

And, um, I think I'm going to go take an ibuprofen or twelve now...

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Getting closer...

4.5 miles. 48:44. The thermometer in my kitchen reads 55, but it feels oh so much colder!

This was the first run of the season at the park in Bartlett. It's a flat course. Not a lot to look at. And the drive is a pain. Good thing there's only a month now until the half.

Actually, now that I think about it, it really is a month until the half. EXACTLY A MONTH. Good God.

The shoes were a little stiff, but then again new ones usually are during a first run. Let's hope I softened them up enough for Saturday!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The New Shoes

Blue! The new ones are blue!
Damn. I was so attached to the pink ones that it's only now that the blue ones are in my possession that I realize how much I'll miss them! We had some good times, my pinks shoes and me. *sad face*

Here's the thing. You can't buy running shoes based on color (tragically). Back when I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, I would just go to the New Balance store, pick out something that looked cool, and run in them. And inevitably the shoes wouldn't feel good and I'd quit running.

After my first half-marathon (2007), I decided I should maybe go to an actual running shoe store and have an actual running shoe store employee watch me as I actually ran. It was then that I learned that my entire adult life I'd been wearing shoes one size too big, and also that Nike Zoom Structure Triax running shoes are my match made in heaven.

The pair I bought tonight is my third. It's the same shoe every time. I just walk in, show the store person what's on my feet, and say, "I need this shoe." And then I get the shoe and it's exactly the same in every way except Nike changes the color every few months, so I never know what the hell I'm going to wind up with.

This time, it was blue.

So the above picture represents the condition of a brand new, never-been-worn pair of running shoes (in stupid blue).

The below picture represents what a pair of running shoes (in awesome pink!) looks like after about 200 miles:

And er, well, OK, I was hoping for a more dramatic contrast there. Damn that flattering flash in my living room! They're in pretty bad shape, but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

And here we see the comparison from the bottom. The pink shoes are shredded. And I feel deep, deep personal pride over this. I have torn those shoes UP.

I was told this evening that I should definitely not do any more long runs in my pink shoes, but I'd be OK doing a few more short ones if I wanted. But to break in the blue ones before the 12 mile (!!!) run on Saturday, I'll wear them tomorrow for a shorter run.

I have no doubt they'll feel good. Tonight, like every other time I've bought a new pair, I put them on and couldn't believe the spring in them.

But I already know I'm not going to look as good in them. Man. I really, really, really liked the pink...

Better luck next time, I guess.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Experiments in Running: Today's Lacked the Element of "Success"

Last week I bid adieu to my regular running park and I was all prepared to drive to another track today to get my run in...

...but...

...but...but...there's a really awesome NOVA on tonight! And NOVA is on at 7:00 and if I drove all the way out to Bartlett then I wouldn't be back by 7:00 and wah!

So I hypothesized that if I came home from work, changed clothes immediately, and went straight to the park, I could get my run in at my regular park before the sun set and thus be home in time to watch my show.

At first, all was going nicely according to plan. I even lucked out and was the last car to cross the tracks before a train came by. The way things were going I'd have plenty of time! Maybe I'd get 4 miles in. That would be good.

Then it just all fell apart, friends. For one, I didn't have time to eat before I left, and while pretty much every other runner ever will tell you he or she would never eat right before a run, I am nothing if not an anomaly. I have to eat before I run or else I will keel over dead from hunger right on the track. This is almost what happened tonight (despite a vain attempt to deflect this fate by stuffing a fistful of pretzels into my mouth on the way out the door). I was so hungry.

Two, by a mile in, it was obvious there was no way I'd make it to four miles before it was completely dark. I decided to try for three instead, but then when I hit two, it was suddenly *really* dark and there were all of these sketchy people hanging around in the parking lot and I was like, what the hell? So I stopped. Sad, because had I known I was only going to run two miles, I would have done them faster than I did.

And three, I completed my run just in time for another train to come chugging along and this time I was not so lucky. I had the grand idea that I should drive out of my way in the opposite direction so that I could cross the tracks down the line instead of waiting for the train to pass...FAULTY LOGIC. It took me forever to get home.

Today's run was a measley 2 miles in 22:58. And I don't even know what to do about my shoes because I didn't run far enough to get a feel for how they were holding up.

So much fail today. To make it for it, I should probably do stomach crunches during NOVA or something.