I can't believe I've come so far, but I managed to conquer 10 miles!. On Saturday we ran from Prospect Park over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. This was a milestone on a few levels, first this is the longest distance I've ever run. Second, this is the first time we've done a run where it wasn't 95+ degrees!!!!! It was a perfect day for running on Saturday and for the first time I didn't feel nervous about the run. I think this is mainly because I was familiar with the route. When we did our Coney Island run, I felt like I was running to the end of the earth. That was an all around hot mess! But because I've run the Brooklyn bridge before I felt optimistic about the run, plus I now know how 8 miles feels so I had an idea of what I was in for.
I went out with friends Friday night and didn't stay out to late like a good marathoner in training. I got home around 11:30 and for some reason decided to clean my apartment like a mad woman. I finally laid down at 1:30am. My alarm went off a 6am and I immediately contemplated ski
pping GTS. By the way this happens like 99.9% of the time on Saturday mornings ever since I started training. Everytime that alarm goes off I dread dragging myself out of bed to get excited about running. It's the absolute worst.! I laid there for five minutes and starred at the ceiling weighing my options, would it really be that deep if I missed this practice? I finally sat up and got moving. I seriously yawned every two minutes all the way to prospect park.Once I got to the park after a few announcement coach Jim gave us some quick directions and told us to go. We started off down 9th street, this was great because it was all down hill, I couldn't think of a better way to start a run. I was working my five in one strategy and feeling great. I don't know if it's because there were more turns on this route or because it was the first time I ran when it wasn't blazin' outside but in seemed like we got to the bridge in no time! I wasn't exhausted or feeling like death. I felt like I had plenty of energy left but I was completely confused, why wasn't I tired or wanting someone to put me out of my misery? Did the drop in temperature make that much difference? Did I really build up that much stamina in a week? I didn't know what was making this run so bearable but I just went with it. We went over the bridge and back, which was slightly challenging because as I've
explained before the Brooklyn bridge is one long hill going up. When we got back to the Brooklyn side of the bridge the run continue at a good pace until we got back to 9th street urgh!Remember that hill that we started on, the one that made me feel so great going down hill, well it was the devil coming back! I tried to get my "eye of the tiger" on up the hill, but it wasn't working. I was officially tired. That familiar feeling was back, yes! I now wanted someone to put me out of my misery...ahhh marathon training, I'm back in business! If it's not hard it just doesn't feel right to me. I finally made it to the top of the hill running as much as I could. I could barely talk or breathe by the time I got up there, but this didn't matter because I was back in the park and the run was over! I did it, 10 miles approximately 38% of my race! I felt like Rocky when he reached the top of the Philadelphia Museum steps....or when he beat the Russian dude, or Apollo Creed - whatever works for you to get the point, and if you haven't seen Rocky (at least 1-3) you should be ashamed of yourself! The point is I felt a major sense of accomplishment.
After the run two of our coaches were having a fundraising BBQ. Granted it was like 10am but I felt like I earned a burger. I sat and chatted with my teammates and yes ate a burger and hot dog (don't judge). It was a great way to start the day! I went home and started to fell a little stiff, when I got o
ut the shower I sat on my coach and literally fell asleep upright for about 20 minutes. I had plans to meet my friends in the afternoon, this was the first time I made concrete plans after a long run. Usually I'm non functional and pass out. But surprisingly I popped off the couch after my little power nap, blow dried my hair, got dressed and was out the door. I didn't even feel that tired. I spent the rest of the day at the Heineken Inspire event with my homies ....did I mention it was free? Ahhh the power of free (there's not a lot in the world that can beat it). Free flowing Heineken, free food, free give aways, free concert, games. We then left there and went to another Free Nike sponsored event, again free everything we had so much fun. I'm not sure if it was conquering 10 miles or all that Free in one day, but Saturday was one of the best summer days I've had in a long time!What Did I Learn About Running That Day?
1) Knowing the route of your run makes it easy to break the run down and for whatever reason the run doesn’t seem as long
2) I’m praying that for the rest of the summer the temp does not rise above 85. Running in extreme heat is the worst! It wasn’t until I ran in decent weather that I realized how much energy you have to put up to run in the heat
3) It was more the heat than the runs that were making me crash after out long runs on Saturdays. I can actually be a functioning human being after running 10 miles
August 3rd: An Up Hill Battle
Just three days away from vacation, I once again made a game time decision on going to GTS Tuesday. I knew we were doing hills and considering that I’m running San Francisco this would be a good workout. When I got to the park we jogged around to "the hill". Between the 10 mile run and all my socializing over the weekend I hadn't run since Saturday and I felt it. The run over to the hill was probably about a half mile but it felt like an eternity. It became clear to me that it would not be an option, I would HAVE to hit the treadmill while I was on vacation, if you take more than a day off your body tightens up. As I was running by the people in the park must have thought I was crazy. I was making the "ouch" face and with every stride I let out an "ouch, oh, yowwsa".
We finally made it to the hill and let me just cut to the chase, remember those repeat effort drill that I've talked about? Yup we did those up hill. This reminded me that I have really gotten myself into a mess with signing up for a marathon in San Fransisco. This will definitely be an up hill battle urgh!
What Did I Learn About Running That Day?
Hills are still the devil...and I learned this in week one!
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