14 Mile Thursday

Today I ran got up at 5:15 am and ran 14 miles. My pacing was about 10 seconds per mile over my goal, but since it was my first time to run longer than half a marathon I was perfectly fine with it. I find that I have to set a goal as far as pacing goes or I'll lollygag around and suddenly I'm practically walking at a 13 min pace. It gave me a good idea of what my Half Marathon race will be like in September and how to set my goal pace for it. Some people set their goals for their first endurance race as just to finish. I could finish a half or a full marathon by just walking, although it would take a while. I could say I finished a Marathon this week by logging over 30 miles in training runs. But it isn't the same experience to just finish as it is to set a goal to work towards. Maybe some people are afraid they won't finish in their goal time and they'll be let down so they just say finishing is their goal to accomplish. And it is it's own accomplishment, but what's the point of getting out and working hard during training runs if the goal is just to cross the finish line ? I'm not competing against the other racers, but I am competing against what I know I can do. In this day and age of everyone gets a pat on the back for just trying, and kids get trophies just for being on the team, I think we all may have lost sight of the idea of picking a specific goal to work towards, and to work hard to reach that goal. Not just to finish, but to finish well. Not just to participate, but to participate to the best of your ability. So I'm not out there with the idea that even if I just walk a 13 minute pace I've achieved something. I'm out there with the idea that I want to finish in a certain amount of time, and if I don't, then I'll work that much harder to do it at the next race, and I'll cross that finish line running at my goal pace.

As for today's run, it was long and I was fatigued by the end. I broke it up into "legs" this time. Did a leg around Coastal until it was light enough to head over towards Quail Run. My next milestone was at mile 7 to take a gel. I had been warned about the gel and just how gross they are. But no amount of warning could prepare me for the sugary, syrupy, gooey, slimy mess that assuaulted my taste buds with that gel. I quickly chased it down with water, but suffered what I'll call guburps the rest of the run. I didn't enjoy having to keep tasting it for the next 7 miles. My next goal was to refill my water at mile 10, and then head for home knowing mile 13.1 was my next goal to accomplish. Had a little gatorade to commemorate that event, and then I slogged the last .9 mile until I hit 14. As soon as I got in the house my calves cramped up and I was in agony until I got iced down in the tub. Had some chocolate milk and a banana to recover. It went much better than my 12 mile run, even though I'm sure to be sore and tired by the end of today. Tomorrow I'm supposed to run 4 miles, and those are going to be some slow easy 4 miles.