20 Miles & Heels {Not 20 Miles IN Heels ::snort::}

Yesterday, I survived my second 20-miler. A large group of us met up at 5 AM in a nearby very, very hilly neighborhood (that’s so huge it’s like a city in and of itself – no lie). We felt it would be great training for the Little Rock Marathon which has some fairly hilly sections.

I’ve actually been doing a lot of runs through this neighborhood lately. Last Saturday, a friend and I did 13 miles through there and I felt so incredibly strong the entire time. It was a very encouraging run! Some people think running hills is fun . . . I’m not sure what’s wrong with those people. ::snort:: As much as I hate running hills, I think they ultimately make you a stronger runner.

Ok. Back to yesterday . . . The first half of the run I felt solid. I attacked the hills. I felt like I was kickin’ tail and takin’ names (in my mind – snort). In retrospect, I think I pushed a little too hard because the second half I felt like I was dragging myself up the hills. I went from attacking the hills to walking up each one.

When I hit mile 15, I plugged in and zoned out with some tunes. I was tired at this point, but not in much pain. The pain started somewhere between miles 17 and 18. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my shoulders hurt, my back hurt, blahblahblahblah . . .

Up to around mile 17 I really hadn’t looked at my time much. I didn’t have a specific time goal. I just wanted to complete the 20 miles. As I started calculating how much further I had to go and how much time I had before I hit the four hour mark, I started thinking I could possibly come in just under four hours or right at it. That gave me some added motivation when I hit mile 19.

I pushed as hard as I could and then pushed harder (my last mile was my second fastest mile!) and by the skin of my teeth I came in just under four hours. I was ecstatic! This run was over eight minutes faster than the first 20-miler and on a much harder route. I’ll take it!

You can see my splits below:

Here’s the elevation of my first 20-mile training run:

Here’s the elevation from yesterday’s 20-miler:

I just laughed. Out loud. I ran that route voluntarily. Some times I really question my sanity.

I came home to a nice relaxing soak in an . . . ice bath. Fun times. #not

I’m happy to report that I was able to put heels on last night, after basically being a complete bum all day, and went out for a night on the town. I think I’m more happy about wearing heels after running 20 miles than I am about actually running the 20 miles.

Side note: I scored this dress at JCPenney for $5! Yes, $5. I found it on the clearance rack. I wish I could find deals like that all. the. time.