20 Miles Later

Today was my big 21-miler, but I stopped at 20. I was feeling way too sickly and one more mile doesn't make a difference.

My average pace was 14:03, which makes me happy. I wanted to average out 13:30, so the extra 30 seconds is ok with me, especially since it was a bad run.

First of all, it was extremely humid when I started and hot when I stopped (in the 80s). Second of all, I got WAY too hot. Let's do a mile breakdown, shall we?

Mile 1 - 12:43 Nice first mile. The humidity made it feel worse.
Mile 2 - 12:51
Mile 3 - 13:20 Whoops. Too slow. Took a salt packet.
Mile 4 - 13:15 Screw it.
Mile 5 - 12:38 Woo-hoo!
Mile 6 - 17:16 I crashed hard. I was borderline tears, frustrated, etc. I ended up walking most of this mile. I almost turned back to my car to leave, but didn't want to do this again tomorrow. Towards the end, I realized my blood sugar was probably too low and that I needed a gu. So I took an espresso gu.
Mile 7 - 12:30 I was feeling MUCH better psychologically. I was singing to myself, feeling great.
Mile 8 - 13:04
Mile 9 - 13:20
Mile 10 - 13:40 (took another gu and the end)
Mile 11 - Approx. 12:00
Mile 12 - Approx 12:00 (having problems with my Garmin - I hit the lap button at odd times.
Mile 13 - 11:50. I have no idea where this energy came from.
Mile 14 - Approx 15 minutes. I forgot to stop my watch - I chatted at a water station too long. Oops.
Mile 15 - 13:33
Mile 16 - 16:15 (I started getting tired and walked a bit more)
Mile 17 - 14:28 (Still tired)
Mile 18 - 15:46 (still tired)
Mile 19 - 16:37 (still tired... back in the Park and felt crappy)
Mile 20 - 19:03 (I gave up and walked slowly)

Notice that the last gu was consumed at mile 10. At mile 11, I started feeling sick to my stomach - I thought it was too much water.

By mile 15, which is when I wanted to take another gu, my tummy still felt sloshy, but I was extremely thirsty. I knew taking a gu would make me barf.

By mile 17, I was at Starbucks so I went to to make myself throw up because I knew I'd feel better. I couldn't throw anything up (not even water). Then I began to think I drank too much on my run. Plus, I was STARVING by this point. I usually take food on my 20-21 milers but forgot and didn't stop to buy any (stupid, stupid, stupid).

By mile 20, I was running on empty (beyond empty). So I gave up running. Notice how my times took a nosedive after mile 15 - when I should've had another gu.

I got to the end and Coach Anne was still waiting for me (bless her!). The others already left for breakfast - since I was doing an extra 6 miles beyond the group, I didn't expect anyone to wait for me and I told them to go on. But Anne waited for me.

I went to breakfast. Those who know me know that I can put away some food. My usual breakfast after a run is an egg white omlette with green peppers and feta cheese, grits with 2 tsp of butter and either wheat toast or 2 biscuits with strawberry jam. And I eat it all. Today, I had the same (with biscuits) and some bacon. I ate half of it. Now, I'm sick to my stomach. I'm going to shower, buy a new cell phone (mine finally bit it on the run) and take a nap. Maybe my GI tract will stop rebelling by that point.

As for running pain, the only way I can tell I went 20 miles is my left calf that keeps seizing on me. I feel wonderful besides that. I feel like I only went 10 miles. I'm not stiff, not sore. My pinky toes hurt, but that's usual. No knee pain, no quad pain, no feet pain, no ankle pain.

But man am I exhausted. I deserve a nap.

Cheers!