Last Thursday I was supposed to run my last long run: 17
miles. I was unable to get that run in due to PTA obligations. I spent
Wednesday-Friday at the elementary school. Saturday, we hiked with the Tiger
den and it was a blast. I love seeing Civil War ruins and I love the fact that
we live in the heart of many ruins. There is such much history here in the ATL.
I didn’t grow up with much history other than the Duwamish Tribe in Seattle. I
still can’t get over the fact that Georgia was one of the first 13 colonies.
Cool!
Sunday was a family day. Hubby FINALLY had a weekend day off
and we slept in, hung out in our pajamas and then went to a birthday party. I
have massive mommy guilt when it comes to doing a long run when the boys are
home, especially if hubby has a much awaited weekend day off. That means today,
1.5 weeks ‘till race day, and I had 17 miles looming over me like a dark
thundercloud. I hate missing my long runs, and I hate even more having them
hang over my head. This morning I started out after my oatmeal breakfast and
then a cliff bar. It was 66 degrees with 96% humidity. Why oh why do I always
have muggy days on my long runs? Thankfully, there was a cloud cover and the
sun never really came out. Phew! My first mile was strong; I then played with
my pace. I was originally planning to take walk breaks at each mile marker, but
knew I’d run out of steam. Yesterday, I looked at the
Galloway Magic Mile page.
My race pace should be 10:17-10:30 and my training pace should be 12:08. I am
not running that slow on my training runs, but I clock a solid 11 minute mile
for my long runs. I also discovered that I should be running four minutes and
walking for just 35 seconds. After my first mile, I decided to try the 4/35
ratio. It seemed to work for me. I had very little expectations for this run. I
battle ovarian cysts that rupture pretty regularly and one started up on
Saturday night. I was in so much pain last night, that I broke down and popped
a prescribed narcotic just to sleep. I knew that would mess with today’s run.
My goal was to run 13.1 miles and whatever I clocked over that distance was
just gravy.
I felt incredibly strong today. I took gels at miles 3, 6, 9
and 12. I have found that every three miles is the key to my success. I had
plenty of water and didn’t run out until I hit the 13th mile. My
goal for this race next week is to finish strong and only walk when my timer
goes off. I even attempted to skip some walk breaks today and I didn’t tire out
as much as I had expected!
As I was approaching 11 miles I noticed that the timer was
just about to break two hours. That is when I kicked it into high gear. I am
working hard to pick up my pace and beat last years’ time. At 12 miles, my
knees started to really hurt. As the garmin chimed at 13.1 miles, I decided to
stop and walk home, there is no reason to hurt myself this close to race day.
My official time for today’s 13.1 miles is 2:22:08!!! No freaking way! That is
a seven-minute PR from two weeks ago and 11 minutes faster than last year’s
race! Here’s to hoping I can hit that time or even beat it next week. Bring on
the taper!
Happy running y’all!
