Longest training run in the books

So, Saturday was my 22 mile run. My longest training run leading up to Florida. With as crappy as I have been feeling the last 2 weeks, it went surprisingly well. I’ve run a total of, oh, 3 times since Half Max, and none of those were over 5 miles. So I was a wee bit apprehensive about running 22. Every year Eladio opens up one of the group runs to people training for the KC marathon or half, and this past Saturday was it. So we had a lot more people than normal running with us. Among the one-timers were Court and Erin. So it was nice to have a few more friends out there.

I went out early to run 2 miles so that I would only have to run 20 with the main group. Those early 2 miles are always such a help. Once we got going on the main portion of the run, I was actually feeling pretty good. We started at Ward Parkway Mall, and wound our way down through Brookside and the Plaza and up to Loose Park. At about mile 1.5 I looked back expecting to see Erin and Michelle right behind us, but they were no where in sight. I knew that Erin hadn’t had much time to get in her runs, with the cross country move and all, so I was hoping that she was feeling ok. Court was with me the whole way, and we kept recognizing a point and would say to each other “hey! We ran by here on our first 10 mile run!”. Back in January we had run 10 miles in this general vicinity, and had felt like such badasses for running so far, and because our Ironman was ONLY 10 months away. My, how times have changed.

After we hit the turn around, we hooked up with a few other girls going 20 miles, and stayed with them for several miles. Then, with about 7 miles to go, Court and another gal fell back a bit and the other two girls and I kept on going. I wanted to stay back with Courtney, but I knew that we each needed to do what we needed to do. And I wanted to get this thing done. It was getting warm, and my feet had started hurting. When we got back to Brookside, the Strutt with your Mutt was going on, so there were dogs EVERYWHERE. Naturally, I was on the lookout for Bostons, but didn’t see any. I did run into Melissa Dehner who was there with her dog Sage, so I stopped and talked to her for a minute before I forged ahead.

One thing that kind of sucks about being slow and doing these long runs, is that by the time you’re on the last 5 miles or so, there are VERY few other Runners Edge people out there. It’s kind of like being at the very tail end of a race when they are starting to come tear the course down with you still on it. You know you’re doing good just for being out there and finishing it, but it still makes you feel EXTRA slow. I caught back up with the two gals I had been running with and we chatted to make the time pass a little quicker. But about once every minute or so, one of us would complain about some various body part hurting. Misery loves company, I guess :)

We made it back to the aid station at mile 2, and I was SO tempted to sit down on the front steps of this house that it was in front of, but I knew I wouldn’t get back up if I did. So we just kept going. Before we knew it, we were back at Ward Parkway Mall and I could actually stop moving! Eladio was still there, so we chatted with him for a bit while I waited for Court. I had been there about 20 minutes or so, and she still hadn’t shown up, so I started to get a little worried. I told Eladio I was going to drive out on the course and find her, and that I’d bring her back to the mall so he knew everyone was ok. Just as I was rounding the corner into the Target parking lot to head out on to the course, there she was marching along. I asked if she wanted a ride back, and she said no, and kept going. I knew where her head was at, I’ve been there myself, and the last thing you want is someone badgering you about how you are feeling. So I told her to check back in with Eladio and I headed home. I checked in with both her and Erin later in the afternoon to see how they were feeling. Both had had a bit of a rough go of it, but were no worse for the wear.

For not having run much the previous 2 weeks, I felt like I did pretty good. By the time I got home, I was definitely stiff, but my feet were relatively blister free. One thing I’ve been noticing is that my cardiovascular system is in SO much better shape than it was earlier this year. My heart and lungs felt perfect throughout the entire run, it was just my joints getting sore. So that is something for me to be happy about. Dan was nice enough to go get us Papa Kenos for lunch when I got home, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon napping and watching some football with the doggies. Then to top it off, he went and picked up Chipotle for dinner! Papa Kenos and Chipotle in one day….it doesn’t get any better than that :)