Monday, October 19, 2009

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!

12 comments:

  1. You started at NOON?! Oh man, you are brave.

    Congrats on the big ass run!! Hope your butt feels better. ;)

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  2. Seriously, the afternoon heat beats me to death! Congrats on a job well done!!! :D Happy Running!

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  3. Congrats girl! You are gonna do great. Don't sweat the long runs. Just remember they are training runs and you couldn't believe you got to 13.1. Woo hoo! Congrats to James too.

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  4. Yay! Killing those long runs is the best! And yes, you need to eat something whether you're hungry or not. The body can only carry about 2 hour worth of fuel before it starts burning whatever it has. Bad news.

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  5. A three hour run... a three hour run... I don't know why but now I'm just chanting that like Gilligan's Island...

    Anyway, congrats on the LR! You are going to do great, if there's anything I've learned is that positive attitude goes a long way on race day! Just keep running and believe in yourself.

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  6. Awesome job on your 18.5 miles! You rock girl!!!

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  7. Awesome job! You know it's going to be a great post when it starts out with "chafed butt crack". LOL!

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  8. Of course, there is the whole chaffing on the end of the peeter thing.... soo, I think we'll call that and being able to stand up a tie. :)

    Nice work!

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  9. Great run! You'll make it through those long runs!

    I try to eat something every 45-60 minutes whenever I'm running for over an hour. Some people can't stomach Gu, so experiment. I really like Sharkies, and will also use Sport Beans, Luna Moons and Shot Bloks.

    During my only marathon (so far - 2nd is in January!), the sweet stuff was getting to me after 20+ miles, I was so thankful a race volunteer had Teddy Grahams. Solid food! I will definitely start carrying pretzels/crackers or even stick with the Teddy Grahams once I'm back up to 18+ again!

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  10. haha "running is so glamorous" - every time I stop in Starbucks for a vivanno or choc milk or water (or all of the above?!) I feel SO Gross and I definitely get those looks (sometimes accompanied by comments...not kidding...). Like "what have you been DOING?!" ;)

    WAY TO GO!!! I love getting to new Distance PRs, it's just as rewarding as a PR itself (time, ya know)....moving right up towards that 26.2!!! :)

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  11. Looking good! You crack me up with the popping a squat! You are going to rock your last 2 long runs.

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  12. Okay girl first AMAZING job on the 18 miler! I'm so proud of you! Second, how cool that you ditched some runner goodie bag in the bushes and no one bothered them! I'll have to do that!

    The thoughts your having- I had them DO NOT WORRY! You will make it. I can prove to you that i had them- shoot you probably commented on the post when i did have them! Its a normal feeling and I promise it will be okay!

    17-22 is the hardest part. So you just started that whole 'wall' thing. You do exactly what you did and keep putting one foot infront of the other. Just keep on runnin. 20 may feel different for you than 18.. maybe better maybe worse. 20 felt super different than 19 for me. 19 sucked and 20 was great. same with 16- it sucked and 17 was great.

    you can do it- just take it one mile at a time and keep on kicking ass! i'm so excited for your marathon and your journey there! its an amazing feeling and i cant wait for you to experience it!

    xoxo

    p.s. if you have any questions or need to vent your runner worries, shoot me an email at chambernic@gmail.com

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