One of my worst runs ever. Honestly. Not so much the pace, but the way I felt. All I can say is I didn't puke or poo and it didn't kill me...so I must be stronger for it. Met Skip in Provo/Orem to run the river trail. My initial thought was to do 10 up the canyon then try and tempo down. Just not the day to do it. There were times on the way up in the VERY dark (5AM start), that I got a little dizzy, but I figured it was from the headlamp. When we got to Vivian he said we could run the highway or up Southfork. I didn't want to run on the road (I'm a chicken) so I chose Southfork. HA! I had NO idea what I was in for. We ran up to a campground/park to the bathrooms and water. Fighting a head wind the entire way from the start. At one point before we got to the canyon it blew my visor off!! I've never had that happen. Strong wind. It was nice to turn around, and it was finally light enough we didn't need the head lamp. I knew the way down would rock! As we ran down Southfork I was perplexed...this was STEEP! I didn't really run up this road did I? It certainly didn't feel that bad on the way up, but this down is amazing. Looking at the elevation, not surprised...200ft gain/mile approx for those last 3 miles. My AP at the turn around (10.3) was 8:47mm Around mile 11.5 I started feeling crappy. My gut was just not happy. I started getting a headache, lightheaded and I just felt weak. I figured when we got back to Vivian I would pop my GU and be fine. HA! Didn't work. The miles just got harder and I stopped talking. I can only concentrate on one thing at a time and that was keeping my feet moving despite my head yelling at me to stop. I was dragging and felt like I was running 10mm, my head felt like it was going to implode and I wanted to puke. Finally got to Nunn's park and stopped for water. Poor Skip had to deal with my horrible run! The distance between Nunns and the bottom of the canyon has never seemed SO long! Just enduring. I did have to stop a couple times when I was sure the puke was on its way up. Luckily, it never made it. We stopped at a bathroom by the ever flowing water and that seemed to help a little, but I was still just exhausted with a pounding head and unhappy gut. Misery, but at least I had good company :) I'd met Skip at the Harmons in Orem and it is UP that 800N hill at the bottom of the canyon and I was NOT looking forward to that, but I knew my 20 miles was almost done so I pushed on. At the light at the top of the hill I hit 20 and started to walk. Poor Skip was just getting moving and ready to run the last 1/2 mile back to the cars. So, we compromised. I walked 200yds or so, then we picked it up and ran another 1/2 mile. When we got back I laid down in the parking lot and put my feet up on the lamp post I was parked under. done. I'd done it. Despite Skip asking multiple times if I wanted him to come back and pick me up, I had resisted and finished it! I still felt just as horrible, but I was done. Put it in the books and it is now signed, sealed and delivered. I had to pull over once on the way home, because I was so light headed I didn't want to kill myself. And yes, I had water, gatorade and chocolate milk when I got back to the car (despite not wanting the milk!) so I was refueled a bit. I was just in a bad state. I don't know why :( Came home and caught a 1 hr nap before taking my little guy to football, where I laid in the grass trying not to puke. He did a great job and there are many things that happened that made me smile BIG! He is trying SO hard lately to work on a lot of things and today he made friends and jumped into a group all by himself. That isn't easy for him, he is very introverted like his father...definitely NOT from me! :) It still took me another couple hours to eat anything solid, but I'm feeling a bit better now. I have to remember to eat on Fridays before a big run. I didn't eat, because I was busy with kids and house, until 7:30 yesterday. My body needs fuel...I guess :) Anyway, when all was said and done with and I looked at my splits I was really surprised. I'd known the 1/2 AP, but didn't realize how fast I'd really run those downhill miles (or how hard the uphill really was!). I guess if I can deal with a suffer fest like that and keep a decent pace I shouldn't be too frightened of SGM. Maybe that is why I had this run today, to make my brain understand that I CAN do hard things even when I don't think my body is working properly. I'll try again next week for those solid tempo miles, but I'm certainly NOT upset about the pace of this run given all the circumstances. Can't wait to read all the good reports sure to roll in from races!! AP: 8:25 splits: 8:46, 8:48, 8:38, 8:40, 8:33, 8:19, 8:18, 9:25 (hello hills!), 8:56, 9:18, 8:13 (ahhh, downhill!), 7:50, 8:04, 8:02, 8:16, 7:52, 8:05, 8:07, 8:02, 8:07 (for the hill UP on 800N...no way!), 8:11 (last 1/2 mile).
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