18 With The Chicago All-Stars!

Long Run Sunday!!!



But first a quick recap of my other runs(I use my blog as a workout diary of sorts...)

Thursday- Cubbie and I meet at my house and we ran "The Bridge" Big monster bridge that takes you from Savannah to South Cackalacky...stats:1.5 miles from base to base, 5.5% incline.

It is about a mile and a 1/4 from my house to the bridge. We pretty much mirrored the 10K bridge run course. Brutal heat, especially in the low's before and after the bridge. Felt great going up the first climb, which is the harder of the two because of the steep incline on the onramp. As we crested the bridge you can't help but gawk at the beautiful view of downtown Savannah from the top of this bridge. I thought we were running with a light tailwind...anyways, down the bridge, battle with the blazing heat in the low and then back up the other side...Whoa!!! that was not a "light" tailwind. As we were blasted in the face about a 1/4 of the way up, this must have been a 20 mph headwind at least. It was all I could to to stay vertical...definately working the "lean" to stay upright. I think I was still running, but it felt like I was moving through a giant blob of oatmeal...total running time 1 hour and 5 minutes...give or take...

Saturday- short run 3.5 miles with a timed second mile of 8:37. The Savannah Mile is in a couple of weeks, I would like to go sub 8:00.

Sunday-This is where daddy pays his dues...18 miler Long Run.
We meet up with the Chicago training group at 6:00am for their planned 18 miler. I had been on the fence all week about this run. MY schedule called for a 10 mile LR after last weeks 14 miler. Cubbie wanted to do the 18, I told her she was on her own, I am doing 10. All week there was this voice in the back of my head. "The Equinox is waiting, have you paid your dues?" "If you build it they will..."Sorry wrong voice..."You can do 18, you are just using this schedule thing as cop out" "What if you get hurt, stay with the schedule" I was going to run with Spokes who is training for NY, he was scheduled to do 12. He didn't show up! Now what?!?!
Uzman mapped out the course and was awesome in setting up four water and popsicle stops. Simple route; do the 11 miler "marina" run followed by the 7 mile loop. As I started my run I was still planning on only doing the 11 mile route, maybe a little extra...I hit the Marina(7 miles) and felt like a champ. I was taking GU every 45 minutes and had my handheld water bottle. I saw Cubbie leaving the marina as I was coming in and we had a very simple exchange:

Coolest running budddy ever-"How do you feel?"
Me-"Really good, you?"
Cubbie-"Good! You doing the whole 18?"
Dilly-Dallyier-"Not sure yet!"
Anti Christ-"You're Doing it! Come on!"

That was it. I got to the end of that route and felt great. No reason why I can do another 7 miles right?!?! Refilled the water bottle with G2 and began the 7 mile loop. The next three miles went by pretty easily. I was still holding an 11:00-11:30 pace, stopping for water at the water stops.

The last 4 miles became an exercise in mental fitness. It was now 9:00am and it was really starting to get hot. I wanted to quit. I began taking two minute walk breaks for every 10 minutes of running. My salvation came in two things; the final three miles were completely in the shade and there was a young lady named Jackie who was also pacing at about the same speed. Lately I have been trying this little gem when it really hurts. "If I am suffering this much, they(he, she, whomever is nearby) must be suffering just as much, if not more" I am not sure what part of me thinking other people are suffering makes it easier for me to deal with but it kinda works...As I pushed through the final mile, I allowed myself to really focus on the gravity of what I am doing...I am training for a marathon. I am about to run 18 miles for the first time in my life. I am changing my life one step at a time.

After I finished I stuck around to talk with some of the other runners. This is a really cool group of people with great (and varied) running backgrounds. Most interestingly is a woman( i didn't catch her name) who has finished 2 ironmans , one being Kona, and 2 half irons since 2004. Oh, btw, she is 72...me, I turn 35 on Friday...What am I going to do with the next 37 years of my life?