Notes
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.
Wow that's really far. More to follow later. After I get home from work. And eating food with Bean and my cool kids.
<edit> Okay. So. Did my first twenty-miler EVER. And man, is that a long way to run. I started out about 7 and ran from the 7mile marker on the B&A Trail down to the zero marker, then met up with Coach, and ran for another 13 (up to almost Marley Station and back to seven). The first seven went by in a breeze (sub-eights all the way out), I tried to reign in the pace for the next 8, but not to much avail, and then the last five were all about survival. I stopped at 15 for a drink of Powerade, and I think that marked a distinct point where I seriously thought about stopping. I'm glad Coach was running too because I probably would have stopped if it was up to me, because I would have told myself that my foot was hurting too bad and that my shins were going to pretty much break if I kept going, but not running 20 just simply wasn't an option, so I told myself that it was only 5 more miles, and I doubt as to whether 5 miles was going to make a difference between a stress fracture and not. Besides, what would be the point in stopping just to have to do twenty next week? My muscles were fine, and I was feeling surprisingly good energy-wise after only have a yogurt that morning and then about 60 cals of Powerade, so I guess I had loaded up enough on Saturday. But yeah, for the last five, I was definitely starting to stiffen up, and my feet were not liking the pavement.
So yeah. Twenty miles. That's a long way. But I could have done the full 26.2 yesterday if I had wanted to, I'm convinced. And at a cumulative pace of 8:05 for 20 miles, I end up with like an 11 minute surplus, so I basically could have half-walked the last six at just under 10 minutes a mile and still qualified for Boston. So if I can pull off what I did yesterday and then run about a 60-minute 10K, I'll be sitting pretty for a Boston qualification. And I'm pretty confident that I can do it, althought this morning when I got out of bed I wasn't very confident in my ability to walk, so we'll see how that goes.
So yeah, this morning (Monday). Haha. I actually felt better than I thought I would (I felt better than after the 17), but my left shin and foot are noticeably injured, and it's hard not to limp. As the day went on, I kind of got to the point where I could ignore the pain, but then the muscle soreness started to set in, and I know that tomorrow is going to be even worse in terms of fatigue and lactic acid soreness, but hopefully my joints will feel better. I hope. I sincerely hope I didn't do any damage. Everything now is all set to go, except it's contingent upon me not breaking anything. ALthough I think I would still run even if I had a stress fracture. My mom might not let me, but who cares. What say does she have anyway. She hasn't run 20 miles. She can't even run 1. But anyway.
But yeah. I'm just so afraid of this foot and my shin...the pain is going to be the only thing holding me back at this point. Pain and the fear of it. But despite everything, I still think training for and running a marathon is like, the best decision of my life. It's definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. And possibly the awesomest.
"She never slows down,
She doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, feels like its all coming down
She won't turn around
The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain
She won't make a sound
Alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands she'll fall down
She wants to be found
The only way out is through everything she's running from wants to give up and lie down.
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain..."
"It's rain that makes the flowers bloom, you know..."
Don't hate on the chick rock.
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