I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to this morning's run and had my eyes glued to the weather forecast all day yesterday. Although I was dreading it, I was determined to get out there and attempt 18 miles.... but when the alarm went off at 3:15 AM all I could think of was "F*&%&uuuuuu%$@K..........." the night just felt like it went too fast and I really didn't want to step outside. Weather said 73 degrees, 94% humidity and a dew point of 71... not a freaking breeze at all.
I stepped out the door at 4:07, had my 1L hydration reservoir full of water and ice, my 12 oz bottle full of water and two Endurolyte fizz tabs - one grape and one grapefruit (though I am considering knocking it down to one), first mistake was not sticking a 2nd chocolate energy gu in my pack along with the one that was already in there and the Hammer Montana Huckleberry gel (found out at mile 14 it is freaking nasty :( ).
First four miles were uneventful, had to stop for a quick potty break and then move on. I kept my mp3 quiet as it was still dark and I was passing corn fields and woods, and my imagination likes to freak me out during these moments. Other than that, nothing exciting.
Between miles 7 and 9 I had to make another pit stop, thankfully I now carry baby wipes with me on my long runs. At some points I felt as if I was going to have an asthma attack, the air was so constricting and just thick, it was pretty miserable. Thankfully it was so cloudy that sun never showed it's awful face throughout the run. I was drinking a lot of water from both, even though I had never ran out yet during a run I was trying to be careful. I was thankful to have reached the half way point but was honestly eyeing the 12 mile mark for which I would then have only 6 miles or an hour left.
Mile 12 saw another pit stop, and from this point there was quite a bit of struggling. At this point, instead of stopping every 2 miles or 1 mile I was stopping every half mile to .75 miles. I had consumed my chocolate gu at mile 10, so at mile 14 I found myself left with the montana huckleberry that I hadn't tried yet and had actually been avoiding it. I soon found out why, at first the taste wasn't too awful but then it just became nasty, I could only take a few "drops" or whatever you would call it and stuffed the rest in my pack.... disgusted. Water didn't get rid of the taste, and it hurt my already injured state (mentally), the last big hill at 14.3 - 14.4 was done with a walk and then I paced for what felt like 5 minutes trying to gather my strength.
I was never so thankful to reach mile 15, thinking I only had 3 more miles left... my calves were sore, my quads and hams were sore but most of all my glutes hurt like hell. I stopped again at 15.4 miles, and then headed onward with no plans to stop until I felt the need to but then I stopped just after mile 16 to take a pic of the gloominess of the sky..... only to realize I couldn't unlike my phone due to so much freaking sweat :(
I held on until mile 17.15, then I felt the need for another pit stop. After that I stood for a moment, realized I drank my last bit of water from both the reservoir and the bottle..... did I mention that warm water was just tasting nasty? I knew I only had one mile left, but I knew I would also have a whole half mile to walk back home. But I was almost done, almost finished with this new PR milestone and that was all I cared about.
I stopped again at 17.5, craving water and feeling the affects of both the heat/humidity and exhaustion - my last stop was 17.85, I can't begin to describe how much I wanted to be done with this and how badly I missed the cold weather, hell I will be happy to see 30 degrees, even sub zero temps damn it.
I finished 18 miles in 3:01:01 with an average pace of 10:03 min/mile (elapsed time of 3:58:57, admittedly this was my toughest run even with no stomach issues). Elevation gain of 416 feet and a loss of 398 feet.
Laps/splits were:
Mile 1 - 11:13
Mile 2 - 10:34
Mile 3 - 10:23
Mile 4 - 10:15
Mile 5 - 10:08
Mile 6 - 10:19
Mile 7 - 10:27
Mile 8 - 10:25
Mile 9 - 10:29
Mile 10 - 10:03
Mile 11 - 9:56
Mile 12 - 9:41
Mile 13 - 9:25
Mile 14 - 9:25
Mile 15 - 10:15
Mile 16 - 9:37
Mile 17 - 9:34
Mile 18 - 8:52
Week 7 is over and done with 39 miles for the week, 3 miles less due to Thursday's rain and tahoe issue but the biggest achievement was this morning's long run.
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