Pace: 12:10 average
Audio Book: Bad Luck and Trouble, by Lee Child
On Sunday, I ran 16 miles in 3:14.
Now, I would have thought that I would need adequate fuel and hydration to run 16. Nope. The night before, a friend needed some support due to a breakup. How do you get a friend through a breakup? Clue: this blog is named after it. That's right: wine. We drank wine, and wine, and wine. And then we got hungry, so I busted out the Triscuits.
(I really could not love Triscuits any more. Behind that unassuming exterior? Oodles of deliciousness. Yes, I could too be a food writer.)
After that night of healthy, positive, nutrient-packed man-bashing, I woke up and was a little dehydrated. But two cups of non-hydrating coffee had me feeling like I could do my run. I knew I needed to eat, but my friend was still at the house and I felt weird about eating in front of her and didn't really have anything appetizing to offer, so I just ate half a Clif bar and sucked it up.
Well. I have never had so many thoughts of food in my life. I daydreamed of tuna melts. Where are the best ones? They have that good one at Humble Pie with olives. Man, I could tear up that tuna melt. I like the one at the Main Ingredient, too. I could have some chips with it. Yum, chips. In my audio book, the characters suddenly started spending a lot of time at meals rather than trying to catch the bad guys. They had chicken, and steak, and salmon, and delectable desserts. I was starving. And here's what I had to eat:
(They're basically like a gummy bear. I like these better than the Clif shot blocks, although the shot blocks give you something to do while running as you try to remove goo from your teeth for the next three miles.)
I only had three chomps with me, so I forced myself to ration them. I had one after 5 miles, one after 8, and one after 12. They were incredibly delicious. Almost as good as a Triscuit.
Aside from my starvation problems, I was happy because my knees and hips didn't blow up. They say half of doing the marathon is getting to the start line uninjured. (I texted that to TST, and it auto-corrected to "uninsured." I don't want to get to the start line uninsured, actually. What if I require CPR?) So the training runs are supposed to gradually build mileage and get the body accustomed to pounding the pavement for miles. Perhaps this is working, because I've been having stabbing pains all over my knees. Yet on Sunday, while I had the occasional twinge, everything felt okay. I will conclude from this that lots of wine before a run lubricates the joints.
Also, I ran a little faster than I usually do on long runs. I decided to try to just let my body set the pace and not worry about my watch. When I first started running, I'm pretty sure that program would have resulted in 18-minute miles. Yesterday, I was right around 12 the whole time, with some 11s in there and a couple of 12:30s. I mean, seriously, check this out:
(I'm happy with those numbers. And look at that random 11:30 at mile 15! Boom.)
Am I the only one who smells a producer-based conspiracy? Ruben is a charismatic contestant with some fame, so they wanted to bring him back. Plus, two shows later they had a Ruben-based episode showing him singing. Like they hadn't already planned that episode. Harrumph. I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out TBL is not completely real and might be scripted.
Anyway, 16 miles! I'm finally feeling like I can do this. I can eat all the Triscuits I want with that kind of mileage. Triscuits should sponsor me at the race. I'm gonna do it. And I won't even need a ride in the middle. And best of all? I did have that post-run tuna melt. It tasted like victory.
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