Surviving a Twenty Mile Run

I survived a twenty mile run, I can’t say the same about my running shoes, but it looks like I’m still here; well physically anyway.   My legs and feet were pretty sore yesterday, but I feel fine one day after the run (please don’t tell my family  because then I won’t be able to lay in the family room, laptop on my lap, feet elevated, and whine that I can’t cook, clean, or do laundry because I just ran twenty miles).

Yesterday, when I left the house at 5:15 a.m., I was worried about the weather because the forecast was calling for scattered thunderstorms.  Thankfully, when I arrived at the Team in Training’s starting area at 6:45 a.m. the weather was perfect.  It was clear and the temperature was in the 50s. First, we gathered for some motivational speeches, then we warmed up, we stretched, and we were off.   

A big pack of us took off into the streets holding our little pieces of paper with our route directions written on them.  Since this was a training run and not a race, we had to run on the sidewalk for most of the time, and we had to figure our way through the course.   Obviously, since I’ve already had experience going the wrong way during a long run, I was particularly careful to make sure to go the right way.

The run went well.  The Team in Training coaches had done a great job preparing us for this.  And thank goodness for all the hill training we did because this run was all hills.  We had long, winding hills.  We had long, winding, steep hills.  At one point, we had to run to the top of a hill, turn around a circle road, and then come back the way we had come.  The whole time I was running up this hill I was able to keep going because I knew that it would be all downhill on the way back.  Ha! Have you ever heard someone say that it was uphill both ways?  Guess what?  It was uphill both ways.

In spite of all the hills, it was a great run. The scenery was amazing.  We went past so many interesting neighborhoods with beautiful gardens, friendly people, sidewalk cafes, amazing houses, and the trees were in full bloom.  At one point, the view just took my breath away and I had to stop to take some pictures.

In the past I was reluctant to run with music because I thought it would be too distracting; however, I was very glad to have music this time.  The music gave me that extra bit of motivation to get going.  For example, at mile thirteen, when we were actually running downhill, the song We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister started to play on my mp3 player.  I started to laugh.  How appropriate was that?  And how about when at mile sixteen I was starting to get really hungry and the song Hungry Like a Wolf came on.  Yes, the music made the run that much more fun.

About two miles from the end of the run, the weather started to turn a bit iffy.  I was worried that those thunderstorms I had read about in the morning were actually blowing in so I stared to pick up the pace so I could get to the end before the storm hit.  Fortunately, I got to the end ahead of the storm.  Unfortunately, some of the Team members were still on the course when the thunderstorm arrived.

Finally, four hours and 2,221 calories later, I got to the end.  I finished.  Now I know that I can run twenty miles, but will I make it all the way to 26.2?  Incidentally, it looks like I won’t be able to wear the same pair of shoes to the actual marathon.  Time to go shopping!