Dashing through a Dozen



Things you see on a 12 mile run: Domestic Elk

I normally do my long runs on Saturday when Joe is home to watch the kids. I wake up early to get out the door and get it done, but it still takes up a big chunk of my Saturday and I spend the rest of  the day recuperating from the pounding miles.
This week Joe got back into town early Friday so I jumped on the opportunity and did my run Friday afternoon instead.

Thus far, I have started my runs from home, running out in a straight stretch half the distance and then running down a block and returning back on a parallel straight stretch. It's effective. It's predictable. It gets me where I need to be. And it can get awfully boring.

So this time, since I had Joe around, I asked him to drive me out 12 miles away from home and I would run all the way back. It seemed like a great idea...when I was sitting in my warm, comfortable home. And then we started driving.

12 miles seems so much farther when it's done in one straight shot.

My stomach started to squirm as we got farther and farther from home. We passed from our town to the neighboring town to another town and even another town.

Gulp.

When we reached 12 miles, he asked me what I wanted him to do.

"Take me home", I said, only half way joking.

But I got out of the car with the thought that the only way 12 miles is going to happen is one step at a time. And so I ran 12 miles home. It was marvelous. And it was cold, much colder than I had anticipated. Yet still marvelous.

My legs stuck with me. The music was good. I felt pretty comfortable, as comfortable as one can be jogging, until mile 11. Then it got extra uncomfortable and dark and even colder, but with the thought that there was only one mile to go...I got through it.

I ate a couple of Clif Blok Shots and anti-fatigue pills before and half way through. I think that really made a difference. My ten mile run a couple of weeks ago was miserable. This 12 mile run with that mid-run nutrition went much, much better!

I still haven't committed to a hydration belt. I just carried a water bottle with me and refilled the two times I stopped at convenience stores to use the bathroom. That would have worked okay except for the cold water sloshing out of the bottle making my already freezing hands even icier.

And with that run I'm almost half way to marathon distance! That's exciting and very motivating. Next week I'm scheduled to run 14 miles, the longest distance I will have ever run in my entire life. After this run...I'm game!

Oh, and it was very satisfying to wake up this morning and NOT have to go running. Especially when a huge snowstorm came plowing in. I sat quite comfortably in my recliner, watching the snow blowing horizontally, feeling very smug and relieved that I was already done with my miles!