I did ten miles!
I am now going to divulge the information I would have liked to hear from another amateur before I got to this point:
Before- I drank my usual sixteen ounces of water. No other food or drink, but I brought along a Gatorade and a gel.
During- There were moments of beauty: the sunrise, the top of every hill, the first time I saw another runner (at mile 7). Plus, it rained last night and the air smelled heavenly. And there were moments of pain. I kept having quirky pain in different places in my legs, so I'd stop and stretch and walk a while. What surprised me the most, though - was that I got bored. As varied as I make my route, it's still just me and the sky and the street. I hadn't thought of running as isolated or lonely until recently when I read an article that mentioned it. It's true. Even for just ten miles. Three or five and you're back home quick - but this was almost two hours of just watching the scenery go by. Well, there's been a theme of silence and solitude in my prayer life lately, so maybe I oughtta look at this as part of that.
Gel review - Gross. Tolerable if I didn't look at it oozing out of the pouch, and if I told myself it was pudding. And it did help. Gotta do more research in this area as I go further.
What I said to myself - Anytime I started tensing or trying to compensate for my foot-size difference (which made itself more known than ever just after mile 8 with noticeable slipping and sliding) I'd think, "Just listen to your music and cover the distance." Musta said that to myself a dozen times. I didn't have a route picked out beforehand, but I do know a lot of rough distances within a five-mile radius of my house, so I looked at my GPS pretty frequently. The miles surprisingly went by faster than I expected.
After - I'm hurting. My knee is killing me and my quads are sore. Had to sit in a TERRIBLE chair for two hours right after my run at a class we had to go to, and that didn't help. Perhaps I'll take a cozy ice bath after dinner tonight.
The class we went to this morning was at church and there was a funeral going on. During a break we had, the coffin was on the way in and I stared at it for a few minutes. My knee hurts, and my freaky feet are causing me problems, but I'm alive. For now. Might as well make the most of it and run.
4 comments:
Congratulations, that is incredible!! I'm so impressed! I am having trouble getting past the ice bath comment, you wouldn't really do that, would you?
Wow you did it! I'm so proud of you! Loved the post! I ran a half marathon before I had Addie and the longest distance I did during training was 10 miles and I finished 13.1 no problem. You're going to do great! Keep it up!
Wow~ You totally rock! I'm back down to 2 miles these days off and on. Life is just too busy and it's a bummer. A question, since I know nothing about this, but strive to do this someday, as well - why do you have to eat while you run? Does it really help? And you really, really should check out Nordstrom for shoes - like the other comment weeks ago, they will sell you the mismatched shoes. They have quality running shoes and inserts there and knowledgable sales people. I promise.
Suzie - I would have to be desperate to do an ice bath - and positive that my body needed it. It sounds like torture.
Laura - That's so cool you did a half back then. Had I known that, we might have taken up running when we lived closer. (Guess we were both pregnant most the time, though, huh?)
Karen - Nordstrom took care of me in another department, so maybe I'll give the shoes a shot.
As for eating, you just have to have that energy and sugar when you're running that long. I've slurped gel as early as 3-5 miles, but haven't really NEEDED it needed it until much later. Although Gatorade has been my friend, too.
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