March 6, 2005

Halfway there! Oh my God I hurt!

14 miles today. Not the best run ever, not the worst. I will call it a "messy" 14 miles. Had definite trouble with the hills and walked most of them. Also found the last two miles to be the hardest, even the downhill .7 miles to my house.

My prep was decent, probably should have eaten a bigger breakfast or something; didn't have much energy starting out. After the first lap of the park, I ate my last Gu gel thingie. Will definitely have to stock up on those; I believe they help and I wish I'd had four or five of them with me today. I stayed hydrated pretty well, too.

Halfway through the run, at about mile 8, I ran into a couple old friends. Hadn't seen Mark and Kay in a at leats 18 months, so it was nice to see them, though I couldn't chat long -- too easy to cool off out there. (The temp was 42 degrees today... felt almost warm! But the sun kept coming and going.)

Basically, this one really beat me up, but didn't beat me. I finished running, by God. Makes me appreciate what it takes to do a marathon, though. This was only 14 miles and I am TIRED and HURTING. I do think, though, that with continued training, better attention to carbing up, and some antibiotics to help my lungs regain some power, that these long runs will be a little easier than today's.

Official half-marathon next weekend. This one will be a qualifier for ING 2006.

No comments: