15 Miles!

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog for a while. I think I'm still having a hard time believing anyone really cares about reading it. I know that I look daily at the blogs I read and hope they put up a new post, but I can't believe anyone would do that about lil ole me! :) So, maybe you do, maybe you don't.....regardless, I do enjoy blogging so here I am again!

Last week was fairly successful. I skipped 2 workouts, but I absolutely KILLED my long run on Sunday! Originally I had 17 miles on the plan, but that was after 14 miles 2 weeks ago. If you recall, I missed the 14 miles that weekend because I got sick. I did 10 miles last weekend and struggled through each of them. I decided that I wanted to go farther than 14 so I could truly increase my mileage (since I already did 14 once). But, I didn't think jumping to 17 was probably a bright idea. So, I decided to shoot for 15.

I know you've seen this one before...but it fits well for the topic of this post!

I've been working on getting over the fact that my previous training partners and I have kind of parted ways for this training. We're just at way different places. I can't keep up with them and they can't slow down enough to stay with me (nor should they). It's just a little tough because they still mostly have eachother, and I'm out there to tackle this on my own. I mentioned a few posts ago that I was going to try to enlist people to help me get through these long runs. Now it was time to test that theory out. I asked my mom if she might be willing to ride her bike next to me for the 2nd half of my run. I've run 13.1 miles by myself plenty of times so I figured I could do 15, but it'd be more fun to have someone to talk to (or listen to while I huff and puff). My mom lovingly agreed. The plan was that I would start on the trail and she would meet me at the turn around point. Just so happens that the 15 mile distance was perfect for this. There is another parking lot about 7.5 miles from where I park.

I started out on my run knowing that I'd tackle the 7.5 alone and then have company. I swear this made me run faster. Also, I started with my training partners (that would be SIL and Adrienne - sorry Ade, can't think of a cool blog nickname for you right now), and although I didn't stay with them for more than 3 minutes, I did catch up to them on my 2nd run interval....and then kept them in my sights for quite a while. This is so good to me because I see them as being significantly faster than me (cuz they ARE), so to keep them in my sights tells me I'm moving at a pretty good pace (for me).

Yea....get used to seeing this one. I need to remind myself of this often, but I'm getting better at it!

I felt AWESOME! I was completely out of my head and just enjoying it. Before I knew it, I was at mile 6 texting my mom to tell her I should be there soon. And then....in front of me was not just my mom, but my dad as well...on their bikes....ready to ride with me back to my car. Now, it did make me a little nervous to have them with me. The trail isn't big and it's quite crowded with people TRAINING. You have people going probably 25+mph on their bikes and I worried about them being hit by a bicyclist because they were trying to go so slow for me (and because some of these annoying bicyclists don't WARN you that they're coming). Yes, I'm a worry wort. And, apparently I DID need to worry as my mom had her own version of a slow moving tipover! Not really though, she apparently went to get off her bike and her leg went out from under her! She was fine...and yes, gave me permission to talk about it on my blog!

ANYWAY...so I loved it because she said to me, "you're moving pretty good for having already completed 8+miles". I said I feel freakin AWESOME (only I didn't say freakin!  - yup...I have that kind of relationship with my mom)! It got a little more challenging around mile 10, but I was still going strong. My parents decided that they would turn back with a little less than 2 miles to go so they could ride back to their car. Right before they left me I yelled out to my mom that I had just passed 13.1 at 2 hours and 59 minutes, which is my 3rd best time (1st = 2:41 2nd = 2:56). Considering I had almost 2 miles remaining I was pretty happy with that. I promised my mom that I wouldn't give up the last 2 miles and that I would keep my intervals (to this point I only took 1 extra minute of a walk break - that's UNHEARD of for me! I've never completed a half marathon with keeping my intervals through the entire distance). But Sunday...I kept my 3/2 intervals for 15.05 miles!!! I finished 15.05 miles in 3 hours 27 minutes and 48 seconds. That was good for a 13:49 minute per mile pace. When I did 14 miles in April, I believe I was around a 14:09 pace! Here's the way I see it. The marathon course is open from 7:30 AM to 3PM. That gives me 7:29.59 to complete the marathon. That means I just have to be faster than a 17:10 minute/mile. I think I can do that. I have not yet decided if I have any goal for race day (other than crossing that finish line), but Sunday I was hoping to just stay better than a 15 minute/mile. I KILLED that!

I felt absolutely amazing after my run. My parents took me to breakfast (awesome! well, awesome that they took me, the food and service were not so awesome); then I went home and proceeded into the ice bath. SIL thinks I'm crazy, but I really do think it makes a huge difference. I'm just glad it's summer, because I think it makes the bath that much easier to handle. I then put my cozy compression socks on and vegged on the couch. I attempted to sleep, but failed after about 20 minutes. Unfortunately then I didn't feel very good. It's quite tiring to run 15 miles! My awesome sister took the kids that night  (and the next actually), so Drew and I just came home and vegged the rest of the night with no kids to worry about.

Oh ice how I LOVE you....even with the bath toys!

I kind of laughed to myself on Monday as I was going about my day at work. After my first half marathon I took the day after off from work. I was glad I did and I was quite sore. But yet, after running 15 miles I was working the next day. I was sore, but not unbearably so (ice bath..I'm telling you!!). Just funny to me.

So, my exercise is getting there. I still need to stop skipping so many workouts, but a 15 mile run is awesome! My eating still sucks, but that's old news. I'm always a work in progress and just need to keep reminding myself of that.

And with that I'll stop rambling.

Have a wonderful night and no matter what, never give up! If I can run 15 miles - you can do what you set out to accomplish!