Saturday, April 11 was our final long run before the OKC marathon. The day dawned perfectly, 42 degrees, clear skies. Dave set the tone by encouraging us to "run with perseverance, the course set before us," and most of us could hardly stand still long enough to listen to his instruction, so anxious were we to get this particular run under our belt. We were going to do 4 loops of 5 miles each around the Maple Ridge area and then tag a 2 miler at the end using whatever route we wanted. We also were not supposed to wear our timing devices but addict that I am, I had to hang on to mine, if only to document that I did the distance.
My first couple of loops were a breeze, the first 5 miles I ran with Carmie and it was hard to believe that she had just run Hogeye, one of the top 10 most difficult marathons, in Fayetteville, only last weekend. The next 3 loops I ran with Larry and we paced each other well. Both of us are wanting to qualify for Boston and he has the same QT as I do but he will probably qualify before I do, but's who's in a hurry? I tried Gu Roctane, the ultra endurance gel, for the first time and it went down fine and gave me a good buzz. I really like the Blueberry Pomegranate flavor but the Vanilla Orange was ok too. I think I found a good system for my fuel, taking a gel every 5 miles seemed to keep me ahead of the energy drain at the end of the run. I alternated bt the regular Gu and the Roctane, the Roctane costs twice as much but it has more muscle restoring qualities to it, the biggest change in the gel is it contains Ornithine Alpha-Ketoglutarate (okg) which limits the body's tendency to break down muscle protein tissue. OKG keeps you going longer and aids in recovery.
When we were finishing the 3rd loop I told Larry that I was thinking about tagging on 4 miles instead of 2, for a total of 24 miles. OKC would be my third marathon and since I've haven't learned how to keep myself together after 18 miles, I wanted to go most of the distance and see how I did. I said I'd fully commit after we were further into the 4th loop, I was still feeling pretty strong during the 3rd loop, but then again, I usually do.
About halfway into the 4th loop I said that I would do the 24 miles and Larry said he'd go the distance too. I told him it wouldn't be pretty and I was getting really tired but I wanted to mentally tackle this so I wouldn't fall apart in OKC. So, we finish our 4 loops, 20 miles, and we head back north on Riverside and I'm beginning to get a little tight. I should have had more Gatorade. I make the first 2 mile section and we head back south to 31st street, oh, I'm really sluggish and hurting now. We gulped down some water and got right back on the trail, if we stopped, we would surely stop for good. Those last 2 miles were brutal, I whined and wanted to alternate walking and running so badly but Larry wouldn't let me walk. I am so glad he was there, because I definitely would have wimped out. Not only did we do 24 but he had the gall to ask me to tack on .2 so we could say we did 24.2!!! Ohhh the pain, but it was so worth it, I feel so ready for OKC! Now, please God, give us another beautiful, perfect day like Saturday, we've had more than our share of windy Saturday training runs.
When I got home, I did crash on the couch for about an hour but then I showered and went to the mall with my daughter for a little bit. That's the best thing to do other than an ice bath, keep those muscles moving. I didn't even get sore on Sunday or Monday which means I'm not pushing hard enough. I find that hard to believe, since I was so tired but I think it is all mental. I'm leaving too much on the trail, gotta give it all I've got.
My weekday runs were pretty amazing. Tuesday morning I ran with just a couple of hours sleep. I felt pretty sluggish, but I think that was more from the 24 miles than the lack of sleep. Thursday morning was a great run, perfect weather and I had 2 sub-9 min. miles and a little sprinkling of rain during the run. This was with an average of 4 hours sleep/night. Next week will be different, I must get several good night's of sleep in before OKC.
It's taper time, all easy short runs now. Good because I have 2 baby showers to go to Saturday, perfect timing.
Way to go Paula. Good luck in Oklahoma City. Hope I see you there.
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