Each Day Is a Gift

5 weeks to marathon!!!! Today's workout: 17 miles @ 11:00 (marathon pace), 0.5 mi WU, 0.5mi CD.

27F, 8mph ESE wind, cloudy.  Wore similar clothing as previous 2 workouts except for a warmer headband (UA).  Ate chobani, banana and 6 oz water, 2 puff albuteral. 

Wanted to run this long run by feel.  Quads were tight and sore the first 5K.  Sometimes my thoughts wandered and the pace would slow.  Stopped (paused watch) at mile 5.6 at Lone Peak restroom to void, eat 2 bloks, drink water and refill 6 oz water flask.  A bit chilly going east with the east wind, breathing okay, had lots of phlem to chuck.

Stopped (paused watch) at mile 10 at PG trailside restroom to eat 1 GU (it has 50mg caffeine), drink, refill water flask, stretch quads and calves.  Felt good from mile 11-14 (from the caffeine?).  Hubby called at mile 12.5 so I paused to answer the phone and update him on my run.  He said I sounded wheezy...well, that's how I always sound with my asthma and phlem, haha! 

Stopped at mile 15 to eat 2 bloks, drink, stretch, call hubby to let him know I have 3 miles to go and will meet him at his mother's house in Orem; turned out he's already there.  When I resumed running after that stop (~couple min.), my calf muscles started to cramp so I changed my strides a little, but the feet felt slappy.  When I slowed a bit, the muscles behind both knees started to cramp.  So instead of stopping to stretch I decided to keep going and mentally tell myself that if I was in a marathon, I would still have 10 more miles to go...so suck it up and look at the snow-capped mountains ahead for distraction. 

When I reached the end of MCT on 800 N 1100 E (16.15 miles), I turned right (west) and ran on the sidewalk till I reached the traffic light at 800 E where I would cross the street to go south.  I had to wait for the pedestrian walk light to come on at which time the muscle cramps came on again.  So I just jogged in circle around the sidewalk corner (looking pretty silly to other motorists) to keep the cramping at bay.  

When I reached 400 N on 800 E (mile 17.10), I was may be 0.20 mile to my mother-in-law's house...was tempted to cut the run short.  But decided to go further south for another 0.25 mile then turned around back to 400 N, west to 600 W, north to 750 N, then turned into my mother-in-law's street.  But I was still 0.15 mile short so ran past her house and made a U-turn till my Garmin read 18 miles.  That was so OCD of me but was happy to see that 18th mile split came in at 11:00.  Once I got in her house, I walked around the kitchen island sipping a fruit smoothie, stretched the legs all the while eating 2 bowls of rice porridge with ham she's made for me.  Perfect recovery food...I should end all my long runs in her kitchen! :) :) :)  She could not fathom that I ran from my house in Lehi to her house in Orem! Legs were pretty tired and sore.  When I felt sufficiently cooled down, hubby drove me home.

18 miles in 3:17:10 (running time).  AP: 10:57.  So glad I got it done.  I don't know how in the world I'll be able to run another 8.2 miles in this pace! 26.2 miles is HARD stuff!!!

Splits: 11:18, 10:30, 12:19 (walked part of Dry Creek hill), 11:00, 11:09. 11:19 (incline), 10:41, 10:53, 11:06, 10:41, 10:42, 10:34, 10:28, 10:37, 10:49, 11:02, 10:58, 11:00