Today I set out to run my longest run ever. The mileage was to be 13.1mi and I was hoping for around 1:45:00 or less for the time. When I awoke this morning it was 50'ish and had rained recently. I threw on my compression tights, shorts, a singlet and headed off. I almost immediately began to doubt my decision to include the tights as it warmed up fairly quick. By mile 3 I was struggling to find a decent rhythm, the hamstring was not liking the incline, and I felt like this was the first time I had ever run. As the next few miles ticked by I tried to focus on just maintaining a consistent pace not really caring how I did it. All the while, I was trying to convince myself that this was worth the undoubted pain I was to endure after and the fact someone might talk some smack about me only doing 5 miles so I trudged on with the distance.
Today I also chose to try a new fueling cycle for my long runs. It was to be a Jet Blackberry GU, half a pack of Strawberry Chomps which I would eat more like hard candy, and a Cherry Lime Roctane. The first 2/3's of this equation worked out okay, but when it was time for the extra boost around mile 9 cherry lime was not the correct flavor choice. It burned as soon as it hit my throat, a side effect I had not yet experienced. Which made it hard to focus and threw off my breathing until I could manage to get it all down and recover. Funny that those are all the reasons I choose to use Roctane to prevent. By mile 10 it had started to kick in and I felt a little bit of relief from the exhaustion that had started to set in since I was not only fighting with the distance, but was also trying to deal with being wet and cold since it had rained from mile 5 through mile 8.5. It wasn't quite a full fledged downpour but it wasn't just a light spritzing. It had been enough that I was thoroughly soaked even though it hadn't quite made it into my socks... yet. By mile 11 I was wet but felt dry, socks were soaked and my feet were starting ache, and I had become discouraged to the point that I decided to just finish up the run.
Had I known at this point in my run that the storm had caused the GPS of my phone to fade in and out I would have put in a little bit more effort. Like five minutes worth to make my distance. I thought I was around 12 miles when actually I was closer to 12.5 when the nice lady in my runkeeper app let me know that I had just passed 12.o miles. I am now considering looking into a backup GPS unit to use with my iPhone.
Although I didn't meet any of my goals today. I feel pretty good about what I did accomplish. I ran 12.90 miles and I managed to do it in a respectable time of 1:56:30. Which makes my average pace for today's run 9:01. This pace is well above what I want to be running at but almost 20 second better than my you will not run slower than this pace of 9:20. I definitely feel like I have taken the correct steps toward making my goal of a sub 3 hour marathon so I can qualify for Boston. I know that the Akron Marathon isn't until September, but it feels like it is going to be next weekend and I am not going to be prepared. Next, Sunday I will make it further and I will be faster.
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