Week XIII

Week XIII
34.2 miles.

Started the week off well with a trail run after work with my new and quite sizable run club. It's really nice to have people to run with after work. It takes the monotony out of running the same boring routes, listening to the same boring stuff. I think the run club has reached 11 active members. This is a very large group for one nursing unit. It has meant that I seldom have to run alone, which is cool.

Next run was at Gallup Park after work. Gallup is a flat course, so I preferred it to the trails this day as I was gearing up for my 19 mile long run. Again, the long run has been in my head all week. I got a decent 18 miler in last week, but felt pretty puny at the end, which is discouraging because I still had 8.2 more to go for the marathon.

Did you know that the first person to run the marathon was a courier that was just delivering Jimmy Johns to the King? Did you also know that upon arrival, he promptly died?

In other news, I can't be distracted by these terrible facts. The 19 miler was upon me. Due to schedule constraints, I had to run it in the late afternoon/early evening. I got really lucky with a fast approaching Michigan autumn and the day was chilly. I chose to run this one from home, as Brian couldn't make the date. I decided to run places in my past that spanned a large part of four different cities. I felt great at the start and let the fall air carry me through Wyandotte, to Lincoln Park, to Taylor, and finally Southgate. I hydrated well, but noticeably less than usual. I stopped to eat a gel three times and pushed forward. I was never in trouble on this run. I finished in three hours flat, with a decent pace of 9:39/mile. I felt so relived to be done, but also so ecstatic that I felt so strong during this one. I was encouraged and once again began to believe that I could really do this.

I finished the week with a 5K run (Growler Gallup) and a two mile make-up run to finish the five miles. I drank some beer and celebrated a great week with my family and friends.

I needed this one.

Next up, a step down week.



Sing.
Migrate.