Yesterday I hit a new milestone and ran my longest distance ever - 14 miles!!! And I basically ran it solo. Prior to this, the longest I've ever run was 13.1 at the Harrisburg Half Marathon in September 2009.
 |
Ok, he wasn't that old and
I didn't actually look too closely
at him but he was at least
25 years older than me |
So, my 14 miles run.... I was at my parents' house so I ran on a trail near there. A change of scenery is always nice. Its actually a trail that I would have to do Saturday runs on for cross country in high school. So anyways, it didn't start too well and mentally I just wasn't into it. The first half I did in like an hour and 15 min which wasn't impressive. I walked some. Then it started to rain so I got paranoid and had to make a phone call home so my parents could rescue me if it thundered. It didn't but I still hate rain. On the way back I did my best to run but mentally I wasn't feeling it, not until mile 10 when an older man passed me as I was walking up a hill, he told me to pick it up and that I could do it. So I started running and just stayed a little behind him. When I would fall back just a little, he'd look back and make a motion with his hand to keep up. So I eventually started running next to him. So part of mile 10 to mile 13 I ran with him. We talked and it was very nice. He gave me tips for marathon training and it was just nice to keep running. The fact that I could talk at that point shows that my walking issues are all mental and that physically I should have been running. At some point he told me that I could go ahead if he was slowing me down and I said "no, you go ahead if i am slowing you down." He said I was actually speeding him up so we slowed down a bit. Somewhere in our convo we asked each other how far each of us was running. Its weird where I started on the trail and stuff but anyways, he tried convincing me to run 2 extra miles with him so I could hit 16 miles instead of 14. I kindly said no (which I know regret). So for the last mile he told me to eat a gu and go ahead. I did but I waited at the mile marker I finished at and as he passed it (cuz he was still running further), he gave me a fist bump and wished me luck. I don't even know the guy's name but it was so awesome to have him. I keep thinking I should have stuck it out and done the 16. O well.
So I did the 14 miles in 2 hours, 33 minutes, and 7 seconds. Basically 11 min/mile. My legs didn't hurt when I stopped and I wasn't wobbly like I was with the 13, I so should have pushed harder.
This week I'll be on vacation so hopefully I am able to get out and run. I will tell my friend she needs to make sure I run. I'm planning to do 16 on Saturday but it looks like I'll be doing that solo again, boooooooooo! I need cheerleaders.
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