My Longest Run...so far!

See what I did there?

Yesterday I ran the greatest distance that I have ever run. I had planned to run 18 miles. Up until I left the house, I wasn't quite sure where I would run. I had two options in mind: 1) run the CHaD Half Marathon course, then do one of the loops twice to make up the extra miles, or 2) run along a rail trail that I have heard about in a nearby town. Not being very fond of running in traffic or on boring roads, I opted for the unknown; the rail trail.

I knew that started near a community style gym in Lebanon, NH, so i drove over there around 9. I found a little trail out back, so after getting my shoes on, making sure that my hydration packs were all set, and starting my Garmin....((*#&*$^(#$(*& GARMIN!!! WTF???? seriously???? WHY WHY????? you were on the charger ALL STINKING NIGHT and when i double checked, you said "Battery Charging Complete" on your cute screen!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO IN MY GYM BAG THAT DEPLETED YOUR BATTERY?????

oh. wait. press POWER, MODE, and ENTER button all at the same time....right. i recall having done that before...now if i can just contort my fingers....oh. duh. take the flippin thing OFF first....ok, ok, ok. no stress. just an 18 miler looming......

ok. Thank you, Teri (GARmin) for joining us today.....BEEP!

So off i trotted....for about 1/4 miles, then....heap big pile of debris blocking my way. I peered around the pile....no more trail. WHAT? ugh....so i back tracked and went into the gym to ask about the trail. Oh! the OTHER side of the parking lot. yes, by that BIG SIGN announcing the rail trail....duh....

So off i (finally) went. I had set Teri to beep at me at 4.5 miles, at which point I would turn around, go back to the car, restock my water, drink some GENUCAN, and run back and do it again for a total of 18 miles. Seems simple enough.

The trail is hard-packed gravel. Mostly. There are some places that are a bit wet and therefore muddy, but that was ok with me. The morning was still chilly and foggy in parts. This made for some interesting scenery along the trail, and helped to keep my mind occupied. I tried very hard not to look at Teri until the turn around BEEP. I was happy to learn that I covered that first 4.5 with relative ease!



Beautiful morning for a run!



One thing that I did notice was that it was a bit of a challenge for me to keep an even pace that was where it should be. I am not used to running long distances, and I know that I should keep the longer distances at a slower pace than usual. I decided that a 10:00 mile would be 'good', and bounced around that for most of the trip.

give me pain in my right foot! :(

When I got back to the car I noticed that Teri hadn't beeped for the second leg, which was a bit confusing...but I drank my drinks, took some gels, and swapped my shoes. I had been running in my Asics Gel Speedstar5's, and as ususal, right around mile 8 i started to get a pain in the ball of my right foot. I switched to my trusty Adidas something or others, and off I went.

About half a mile from the car, Teri beeped. Confused, I plodded on. The day was warming up, but I decided to keep my clothing the way it was. Long sleeve tech tee topped with an ArcticEase sleeveless tech tee. The same one I am wearing in this photo. Yea, that's me, chatting it up with Gronkowski. Hohum...ahahaha...

 Where was I? Oh! running along the trail. Yea, my mind was all over the place during the run. I was listening to Marathon Talk, specifically the episode with Bart Yasso. It was very entertaining and informative. I got back to the place where Teri first beeped, and of course, no beep. So i went a little farther (further?) along and came to a really nice spot along Mascoma Lake. This reminded me of one of the best reasons to live in New England. (I keep wanting to say "live in Vermont", but the picture was taken in New Hampshire, so....anyway, I decided to keep going and see how I did. I tweeted something like "longest run ever! at 14 miles and the car is at least 5 miles back!" and kept going. I sent Tracey some messages letting her know that I was indeed still alive. Off I went.

The next few miles just rolled along, and before I knew it, I was at 16 miles. Only two miles left to reach my goal!!!! THIS WAS SOOOOO EXCITING....but wait, there's MORE!!! yep. Car was now at least SEVEN miles away....silly, silly math. (This, my readers, is why you need to pay attention in Algebra class!) So I turned around at the 16 mile mark and headed back. Nothing really special happened on the way to the car, except that I ran out of drinks at around mile 21. I musta been a bit delusional, because I kept thinking things like, well, looks like this will be right around 23 miles. why not just keep going until 26.2, just to say that I did it? Luckily I have a lot of common sense, so i stopped when i got to the car. Distance? 23.35 miles in 4:03. The last mile and a half were TOUGH. I'd run 100meters, walk 25 or so, repeat. The heat was getting to me, and my hips were aching.

But I DID IT~! I did my 18 miles, and then some. And i lived. And i felt alive! What a great feeling. Of course, as the day wore on, my legs got a bit stiff, but I wrapped with ArcticEase, took a 30 minute nap with my legs up, and then moved around and stretched all evening until i fell asleep.

And I slept through the night.....

Today, my legs feel great! A little knee soreness, but otherwise they feel great! 2 mile shakout planned for after work, then back into some medium distance tomorrow morning!!

Anyone figure out why Teri didn't beep when I thought she would?

Thanks!

Be Well,

Gene

Procrastinate Later....

I am SO FAR BEHIND in my training for my debut in the Philadelphia Marathon. Does this surprise me? No. Am I paniking? No. Although i typically like to be a planner and list checker-offer, preparing for races has always taken a back seat. Time to step it up, though~!

Yesterday I went out for a long run. According to most of my #runnerd pals, the long run is meant to be done at around 2 minutes per mile slower than your regular pace. This put me right around 10:30 per mile, which I tried really hard to maintain. When I look at my garmin stats, the first loop (5 miles) averaged out to be 10:16 (moving pace). so...BAM! pretty good. I think that the things that saved me from going too fast were the walk breaks that I took (with increasing frequency toward the end), and the hills. Yep. This long run included some hills. Why? I live in Vermont. Kinda tough to map out that kind of distance without hills in there somewhere.

Oh, and since I really don't like the monotany of roads, I included some trails, too. One of which includes a nice, long (you guessed it) hill. On the map below, I started and finished at the red dot-thing. I parked in Bryce's school's parking lot, and the plan was to do 3 5-ish mile loops. This was to be the lower loop on the map. Course starts out running north along a road then turns east (right....) under the highway, then south (right again) into the parking lot of the Montshire Museum. I continued south along the trail that i love so much, the Hazen Trail. Because I am such a good sport and know that Adam can't get enough of it, I snapped a picture of my Uranus and sent it along to him.
Back on the road, I ran back to the car to grab some water, text Tracey that I was still alive, and update her on my change of plans. Why the change in plans? Well...lemme tell you. I was running in my...ummm....Asics something-or-other road shoes. I will say that they, for the most part, feel great on the road. Just enough cushion, light weight, etc. BUT....they are SO not meant for the trails around here. Perhaps on a rails-to-trails place, or a paved path along the river masquerading as a trail, but not in a trail that is narrow, rooty, rocky, and sometimes muddy. I felt every rock, pebble, stick, and twig. My oringinal plan called to do the loop 3 times. FRAGO! (FRAGmentation Order, meaning a sudden change in plans. The Army is famous for them....) I decided to go north this time, and loop around Norwich village, staying mostly on part of the course for the CHaD Half Marathon, my first ever half.
As I came back into town (near the 5, where I turned East (left), i developed a sharp pain on the ball of my right foot, between the Roast Beef piggie and the hungry piggie. I stopped for a bit to massage it out, but the pain never really went away completely. Hurray....anyone have any suggestions?
The run from there back to the car is pretty lonely. Not many houses, not a lot of traffic. Ho hum...left, right, left, right...an on back to the car. For the last two miles I daydreamed of these chicken fingers dipped in bbq sauce. When i got home, i put some in the oven while i showered and wrapped my aching calves in ArcticEase.  The run was great; i am very greatful to Tracey for allowing me the time for the run. She rocks.
Lessons learned? I need to NOT eat sweet sausages with onions and peppers the day before. Not because it was nasty, but it just didn't give me any energy. Carrying my water bottle without my holders is not fun. I need a longer playlist on my mp3. Trails need trail shoes. It is ok to open up the pace every now and again, just to keep things from getting dull. (it is also ok to close it up a bit to balance it out....) Most important thing learned? GET OUT THERE AND RUN!!!
Here, then, is the map. Link to the deets here.