{First} 20-Mile Training Run Recap

I hope y’all had a great weekend!

I need to get this recap typed out before I forget anymore details. It feels like a long time ago at this point. Ha! This training run was on January 12.

I met up with two ladies from my running group and we got started at 5:30. Our plan was to swing back around to our meeting location at 7 o’clock and meet up with some more people. I really had no expectations as to how many miles we would get in during the interim. My main focus was on pacing myself and not burning out.

The weather was a bit quirky this day. It was very humid.

Other than the humidity, I felt fine. By the time we made it back to our original starting spot, I was hovering right around 7 1/4 miles. I topped my camelbak off with some more water while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive.

This time starting out it was a large group of runners. We were going to do a five mile route and come back to the vehicles again for anyone who needed water refills, etc.

I still felt good. I was trying hard to not to think about how much further, but instead just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. That would work for a little while and then I would catch myself going down that dreaded mental path again only to make myself snap out of it. It was a perpetual cycle. ::snort::

We did a bathroom stop somewhere around mile 11 or 12. I can’t remember at this point. I didn’t feel so good afterwards. My body had cooled down and when I stepped outside I started freezing. It took me until about a mile down the road until I felt normal again.

The second time we made it back to the cars I was completely out of water. I refilled the camelbak again and got my earbuds out. I needed some distraction. I was at mile 13 at this point and I just wanted the misery to be over.

We started back out for the last time. I was doing my best to just hang in there. At this point, I was telling myself, “Just get to mile 14 and then you can walk for a 1/10 of a mile, then when you get to mile 15 you can walk for a 1/10 of a mile and so on and so on.” I desperately needed a carrot on a stick.

It was right about this time, mile 14, that the bottom fell out of the sky. I’m talking a torrential downpour. I was completely soaked in seconds. Most of the group decided to immediately head back to the vehicles. There was a small group of us ~ me, another friend who was getting her first 20-miler in this day, and two other ladies who were determined to help us finish.

We mucked it out in the rain. Mile after mile after mile after mile. I was actually thankful for the rain. It provided a much needed distraction.

However, around mile 17 it started thundering and lightening. We decided it was wise to head straight back at this point. In my head, I told myself even if I had to run under the awning of the school to finish out my mileage I was finishing. I wasn’t coming this close to 20 and stopping.

Thankfully, by the time we made it back close to our meeting spot, the thunder and lightening had stopped and the rain had eased up some. We had just over a mile left. We were all like, “LET’S DO THIS THING!” ::snort:: I was feeling pretty bada$$ at this point. Nooooot gonna lie. ::snort::

When the garmin beeped at 20 miles, I felt a little emotional. Also, everything hurt. And I was super stiff.

I ate a big turkey sandwich with avocado on the drive home and immediately had my ice bath after walking in the door. It was pure torture, but I had virtually no soreness the next day.

There’s no way I could have ever made it through this run without the support of my local running group. These people are rock stars to me. I appreciate them more than I can possibly express.

P. S. I’m pretty sure I have the number of marathons wrong. Each of those ladies now have MORE than I put on this picture. I know, right? Ah-mazing!

P. P. S. During this run, I took an Endurolyte about every 45 minutes. I had GU at roughly miles 5, 9, and 13, then I switched to Clif Shot Bloks and chewed on one per mile until I finished.