Slo Jo: 19 Miles. And I Feel Fine.

Distance: 19 MILES. HOLY MOLY.
Page:  12:13 avg
Carbs eaten the night before: Infinite

This is going to be a happy post. Because I ran 19 miles without stopping (except for occasional stoplights). I felt just fine. I felt strong.

(What does that say? 19 miles. I'm framing this. And my feet look tiny.)

Because I've been having fuel issues, I decided to eat my face off the night before. I had homemade won ton soup and then made pasta and then got into the chocolate graham crackers. Because that wasn't enough, I put peanut butter on them. I'm running 18 miles tomorrow, I said to myself. I DESERVE this.

The next morning, with my distended belly in front of me, I started the run with Coach and Flash. That seemed appropriate. They had been with me when I first started trying to do, say, six miles, and had some sort of anxiety or asthma attack on the fifth mile. They had heard about my blisters, my chafing issues, my fall. And here they were, on my last long run before a marathon. It was pretty cool.

That said, I was feeling some anxiety and crabbiness about the task of running 18 miles. It seemed impossible. So I wasn't responding well to Coach and Flash's lighthearted joking around. I wanted everyone to be focused like a laser beam. I was informed that I was being a grump and not exactly making my friends pleased to be around me, so I tried to change my attitude. But then everyone started just running by themselves and I had no one to share the new, improved Slo Jo with.

Coach stopped after 12 miles, and Flash did 14 (she had to go to the gym and lift weight afterward--slacker). I did see my friend K about three times, though--we kept crossing paths. She is training for the PF Chang's half marathon next week, and from what I could see, she is going to rock it. She looked very strong. We'd run by each other and she'd hold up three fingers as her miles left to go. I would totally have stopped to chat, but there was no stopping the force that was K doing her last pre-marathon long run! You go!

Once I was on my own, I decided to put in my new audio book and--d'oh!--I hadn't downloaded it. I was stuck with music. And so I ran to music for the first time in ages, and my times got much better. Hmm. Last week I averaged 12:48 or something; this week I was better. There might be a lesson there. I was also running in a way to minimize any knee pain on the left knee, because I was getting stabbing, piercing, crazy pains that attacked my knee and seized my quadraceps. Here is how you do the Knee Pain Minimizing Run:

1. Any curbs must be addressed with the right leg only.
2. Any incline or decline must be taken very, very gently.
3. Attempt smooth gait.
4. Stop and stretch if necessary.
5. Say eff it and take some Aleve.

Anyway, I don't know if it was the music, or my feeling that hey, I am actually going to be able to run this marathon, or the Aleve-induced kidney failure, but I started feeling quite good. I picked up the pace. I felt fine. I decided to run an extra-bonus mile and ran up the canal so that I'd have a total of 19. And I finished by running my fastest two miles of the day. Woot!

(11:27 then 11:14. Very pleased.)

I celebrated by taking a shower and falling asleep. So much for the adrenaline rush. You know how you flip the pillow over for the cool side? That's what I was doing with my leg in bed. I'd move it to a different part of the sheet and think, ah, so cool on my poor leg. It is entirely possible I should have iced it rather than relying on the cool-sheet method, but hey. We all have our techniques.

So--TST and I now taper for NOLA. We're excited!