The Long Run

Today was my "long run" day. I had been dreading it for the last couple days because I was scared the distance was too far. Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news: I completed the distance (14.5 miles according to the Google Pedometer).

The bad news was that the distance really kicked my butt. I walked much of the last mile and a half. I almost had "The Wife" come and pick me up, but I was determined to try to finish. The last mile was sooo hard. Every step was painful. The 14.5 miles ended up taking my over 3 hours.

When I got home I totally crashed in bed. No, stretching the muscles...I literally had nothing left. After about 1/2, I decided to take a bath. The whole time in bed and in the tub I felt terrible. When I got out of the tub I puked. In all my years of running I had never pushed myself to the point of vomiting. I've felt sick before, but never quite like this.

I felt like I needed to eat something (it was 4:00pm and all I had eaten was 2 slices of toast for breakfast). But my stomach didn't feel ready. I finally ate some soda crackers.

This isn't supposed to be this hard. I feel like I gave it literally everything I had today and still basically limped to the finish line. I can tell there is no way in heck I'll be able to do 16 miles next week. I might try 15, but I'll be dreading it all week based on what I just went through.

Two things I'm going to change for next week. First, no weight lifting the day before my long run. My hammies were hurting the most of all, and I think it would be better if I didn't lift next Friday. This probably deserves a "Duh".

Second, I got started too late in the morning. I was dreading the run so I found a way to put off the start until 11:00am. I needed more fuel and I didn't have it. I tried my first Cliff Shot energy gel, and that was interesting. The jury is still out on that, though.

I'm not sure what my legs will be able to take tomorrow...