Chafed butt crack, sore butt cheeks... who cares when you just ran 18.5 miles!

Dude. Trying to get out of bed when both halves of your a$$ is tight and sore is quite the challenge. First, there's the sleepy "I don't know where I am; who am I; what am I doing?" moment, then the "oh crap gotta get ready," and then "whooooa Nelly how the heck am I gonna swing my legs over the bed?" moment. And then there's the whole having to sit down on the toilet thing.

Another reason why I will eternally be jealous of guys.

But it's ok. Cause I couldn't be more proud of my accomplishment this weekend: I ran 18.5 miles!

So how did this adventure start?

Saturday morning 8AM: make some pancakes and bacon. Pancakes are the BEST pre-run fuel :)

9:30: Go to the store and pick up post-run protein bars, and lots of water and Gatorade.

10:00: Stretch, Body Glide, the usual.

11:oo: Drop off some "Runner's Goodie Bags" along our route. I packed some bottles of water, shot blocks, ets in brown paper bags, wrote "For runners. Please don't take," and left them in the bushes on the side of the street in two spots along the route.

Noon: James and I drive over to Elings Park (finish point) in separate cars. We drop off James' car, hop into my car and drive to the starting point. And we are off!

• Miles 2.3 -3: we run through the Goleta Lemon Festival and the Classic Car Show. Hey, why not kill two birds with one stone, right? LSD and festival in one! It definitely made the warm-up portion fun!
  
  
• Miles 3-4: It is h-o-t with a capital H. WTF? It is a good 20-30 degrees hotter than last week. It makes running way more difficult. I start to worry if we have enough water
  
  
• Mile 5: My first running potty break! I feel like I am now a legit member of the Runners Club. :) Yes. I am proud of popping a squat. Don't judge :)
  
  
• Mile 9: First pit stop. Phew! No one stole our "Runner's Goodie Bag!" It was nice to fill up on more water. Sun + heat + long run = thirsty thirsty. But only 9 more miles to go~
  
  
• Mile 12-13: a very welcome downhill. At mile 13 I tell James "Only five more miles to go!" I can't believe just a few months ago I was training for my first half, and running 5 miles was a huge feat. Running 13 miles seemed like the gnarliest craziest idea to me then. But now, words like "we've already run 13; what's 5 more?" are coming out of my mouth. Dang. Who would've thought I would actually come this far?
  
  
• Mile 14: Second pit stop. Refill water bottles, eat some shot blocks, and set off for the final 4 miles.
  
  
• Miles 14-16: this portion was so tough; both mentally and physically. I know James was having a hard time. But like a true champ he kept trucking along.
  
  
• Mile 16.7: James tells me I will have to run the last mile alone; he was gonna have to walk. I take a deep breath and head out!
  
  
• Miles 17-18.5: Left foot right foot left foot right foot. I counted every step of the way there. The trance of counting was the only thing that kept me going. Thank god it was all downhill! No better way to finish a long run than going downhill :)

I was pretty effing happy to be done with this 3 hour run. Phew! I was sooooo tired! But I literally couldn't believe I had just run so far, and was beaming with pride. I got in the car and drove back to pick up James and we headed straight for the smoothie shop. We were quite the mess when we got there: moaning and groaning, unable to stand up straight, salt crusted on every inch of our skin. We probably stank like skunks too, but it didn't matter. The smoothie tasted so incredibly cold and delicious. Oh, and did I mention I just ran 18.5 frigging miles? :)
I completed it with fairly minimal damage too. Just one swollen toe, under-boobage chafing, and some butt crack and inner thight chafes. Running is so glamorous, no?

I'm so proud of James too. He smashed is PDR by 2.7 miles! I know he was hurting for the last couple of miles; he says he had a bonk; he didn't have enough water, and he didn't eat enough of his shot blocks. I think he only had one packet of GU gel and a couple of shot blocks. I don't think that is enough fuel for him, but he says it's hard to eat those thing when he's not hungry. But my understanding is that you need to eat them regardless of hunger cues, right? Any advice for James you could offer?

I have only two more real "long runs" left before the marathon; a 20 miler and a 22 miler. There's also another HM next weekend, a turkey trot, and maybe another race before M-Day. I am terrified at the 20+ mile runs and scared sh!tless of the real marathon. 26 miles is sounding like a LOT to me right now. 18 was hard. How on earth am I supposed to run 8 more....??? GULP! I guess I will continue tackling it one step at a time.

Here's to Monday and the many more miles to come!