Mind Over Matter

I made it. It wasn't easy or pretty, but I managed to run 18 miles on Saturday. I was really excited to see Emily, but also worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with her.
Here is the route. We met at the store. The plan was to do a loop in Hyde Park, then head downtown, through Kentucky, and back up through Eden Park. The route is for 16.5 miles. The option for 18 was to add a loop on at the end that involved passing the store. When I see the store, I am done. I have a mental block about passing it, and I knew it would be even harder considering that I would have just run 16 miles. I came up with a new plan to add on by circling mirror lake in Eden Park. The first few miles felt really fast. The whole time I was thinking, I must still be really worn out from my trip. I could tell my legs were still fatigued from Wednesday's 8 miles. We looped back to pass the store at about 3.5 miles and I was honestly worried that I wouldn't make it. Emily looked at her watch, though, and realized that we had done under 10 minute miles. No wonder it felt fast! Luckily, she wasn't feeling like it was going to be a fast day for her, either, so we slowed down as we headed down Madison to Gilbert.
At the bottom of Gilbert we had our first water stop. I did my first Gu (Espresso Love) and ate a Tums. You can imagine the delightful taste that was left in my mouth. Anyway, it was on down Eggelston and then over the first bridge into Kentucky. Once we got over the Taylor Southgate bridge, I finally started to feel better. That's when I thought, okay, maybe I can do this. We powered over the bridges (especially Clay Wade Bailey when we started talking about falling off. Yikes!) We were supposed to take Linn to 8th street or something like that, but I think we took a wrong turn and cut a little bit out. I'm still kind of confused about it, but the important thing is that we made it back downtown and down seventh street. Joe's truck was there on seventh for another water/gu stop. Someone there said we only had about 4 miles to go from there. I couldn't believe it. Then I remembered that we still had to add on in the park, but still, that was only 1.5 more miles. The first part of the run went by so fast!
I guess it was because Emily and I were chatting, which always helps runs go by faster. When we started running again after that stop, it hurt. My legs were really starting to hurt. We ran up Gilbert until we got to the Baldwin building, and then took our first walk break. We walked up the hill into the park and then started running again up to the lake and around. We circled the lake four times and then stopped for a bathroom break. Another watch check showed that we had been keeping about a 10 minute mile pace, so I didn't really feel so bad about feeling tired. We started up the hill towards Krohn Conservatory at a walk. This is the worst hill. It just is. Even when your legs aren't tired, this hill sucks, and after 15 miles, it sucks even more. As Emily and I were walking we heard this sound like a goose flying up behind us. This guy was running up the hill pushing a stroller, and on every exhale he was making this bizarre sound that was like a goose. Emily and I let him pass and then tried not to laugh out loud and he continued ahead of us. We picked up a run and managed to make it to the top. We took one more short break on Victory Parkway before running it in. From Mirror Lake on, I wanted to stop sooooo badly. My legs were hurting, but I just told myself "No, you are not stopping."
Yesterday, I definitely think that the mental part of the run was the hardest, but I made it. Having Emily there made a huge difference. I'm sure that if I had been alone, I would have walked a LOT more. Having someone there to complain with or who can entertain you with stories about college rowing team can really make a difference between a good run and a bad run. So, thanks, Emily! I wouldn't have made it without you!
Making it through that run has definitely helped me get some confidence back. I think I needed a sort of running reality check. I needed to remember that running does not always feel great, but that the pain what makes you stronger. Next weekend is our 20 miler. We are meeting in Newport, which means Eden Park hills and bridges again, but at least this time they will be at the beginning of the run.
Tomorrow's plan is 5.5 miles easy around the neighborhood. Its supposed to be nice out, so I can't wait to enjoy another great day. We were lucky with Saturday's weather, too. It was sunny and about 50 degrees, perfect running weather.
The marathon is coming up so fast, and so is the first run of the Dirt Days Trail Series. That's a series of four trail runs that the Running Spot puts on in different parks. The first race is on April 20th in Ault Park. I'm really excited, but I need to be careful not to wipe out and hurt myself before the marathon.
I think that's all for tonight. It's been one week since I got back from Argentina, and I finally feel like things are mostly back to normal. One more week of tough training, and then it's taper time!