Notes
This was a challenging run both physically and mentally. Eleni and I parked the car at Shawhead and Eleni did 8.5 while I did 17, along the Bruno course and Corsock's God's Hills. On the long downhill at mile 4, I still had that tired flat feeling and questioned if I could do this run. Miles 5-10 were going to be at PMP if I felt good, but that went out the window. I was just hoping at this point to finish the 17 miles. What kept me going is i don't like to bail out on long runs as this is 'mentally weak' for the marathon.
By mile 8 I started to come out of it and was running better. Before I started I put in an extra inserts in my shoes as I have almost 500 miles with them. I need them to last another week until my new trainers get here. The extra support was wonderful expect it caused my left foot, which is larger than the right, to get jammed up causing a lot of pain in my toes.
The way I felt early on I thought God's Hills were going to be tough, but I managed them fine, not slowing done much at all.
Eleni drove by to check in with me at mile 13.7. That is when I ditched the extra inserts. Instantly toes felt better, but I could also feel the pounding, so it was a trade-off of pain. :-)
I was very happy to hang in there and actually was stronger the last 5 miles than the first 5 miles. Eleni had her own adventure dealing was an attacking hawk protecting her baby's nest!