Week Four's Long Run

 As usual, I am always in doubt when starting out these runs.... and I try my best not to even think about them at all. Any run that is over 15 miles is tough and intimidating to think about. 
 But after getting up at 4 AM, getting dressed and taking care of the dogs and getting my hydration pack ready - I set out for my first 18 miler of 2015, trying my hardest not to think too much about the miles ahead of me when all I really wanted to do was get back in bed.
A few days ago I saw this meme on Facebook and it is 100% true, the distance of a marathon itself is pretty daunting, but it's all that mileage during training that is the real challenge, the real test and an adventure in itself.

  On to the run, it was 66 degrees and 94% humidity, I had quickly grabbed my sunglasses because it was already 5 AM by the time I got out the door and I knew I would need them ( so glad I grabbed them!). The sucky thing about wearing a hydration pack is you can't really get your shirt up to your face to wipe the sweat off..... it sucks damn it! The run started out slow, and as usual I had my route in mind (last weekend's 16 miler but with a couple turns near the end), but by mile 2 I changed it up a bit. I needed some different scenery rather than getting right back into the neighborhoods... or if you'd call these neighborhoods in the country/rural side.... I am not really sure.
  I had quite a few more potty stops than last weekend but I didn't get sick to my stomach or anything so that is good. I had a close encounter with a stupid lab mix around mile 6 which probably cost my a minute on my time (stupid owners who can't keep their dogs contained).
  Anyways, it was tough. But I finished... with a bit more left than planned... actually had to do a "cool down" run for .4 miles because I just wanted to get home damn it. I ran the 18 miles in 2:57:51, with an average pace of 9:53 min/mile. Not bad for my first 18 miler of this year, last year's first 18 miles took me 3 hours and 1 minute with an average pace of 10:03 min/mile with a temp of 73 degrees and 94% humidity... okay so not a whole lot of difference (oops)
Anyways, the elevation gain was 379 feet with a loss of 364 feet.
Laps/splits were:
Mile 1 - 11:11
Mile 2 - 10:17
Mile 3 - 10:06
Mile 4 - 10:11
Mile 5 - 10:31
Mile 6 - 10:01
Mile 7 - 10:34
Mile 8 - 9:59
Mile 9 - 10:02
Mile 10 - 9:29
Mile 11 - 9:41
Mile 12 - 9:35
Mile 13 - 9:26
Mile 14 - 9:16
Mile 15 - 9:32
Mile 16 - 9:35
Mile 17 - 9:21
Mile 18 - 9:01


    So that finishes up Monumental Week 4, leaving me with 49.2 miles and 4 hours and 57 minutes of strength training, which doesn't include what I do at home (leg strengthening and ab/core) which would probably give me a total of 6 hours.
  Only 8 more weeks until the Evansville Half Marathon, and just 13 weeks until the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon :)