Today I ran 18 miles all at one time and without throwing up,
passing out or any of my parts falling off!! It was a great morning for running…
not super windy, cool and foggy enough to keep the droves of unruly biking
tourists at bay (although that same fog did lead to some rather soggy times). I was nervous all week about this run and
yesterday was no exception so I tackled the things I thought I could do to help
my cause … got my Pilates session in, did some yoga, lots of foam rolling, tons
of water, good nutrients and a phone call with Bendy DD for a boost of
confidence. With some final reassurance from
my better half, lots of magic tape on my knees, any and every blister aid I
could find for my poor toes and all my other running essentials (it’s a miracle
I haven’t had to trade in my Mini for an SUV to carry all of my necessary items!),
I set off to Crissy Field to tackle my second longest training run.
Knowing that I had a whole lot of miles to get in and that some of
those miles should include some elevation, I started off with making my way up
to and across the Golden Gate Bridge (very different experience when the fog is
so thick that you can’t see the end or the water underneath). After the bridge, I made my way down by the
Palace of Fine Arts, wound around the Marina, up into Fort Mason and down
through Aquatic Park. I usually turn
around at that point vs. continuing in that direction because there are typically
a whole lot of people visiting Pier 39, Ghirardelli, getting on boats to
Alcatraz, etc. and, as is clear by earlier rants, I tend to get somewhat testy
when people don’t watch where they are going! My plan was to get through the masses
and continue on towards the Bay Bridge but that plan went out the window when I
encountered a cruise ship being disembarked…. That was a whole lot of tourists
with a whole lot of rolling bags.
Needless to say, I did an about face and made my way over the scary hill
and back towards Crissy Field.
Mentally, the run went really well. I was able to stay focused and pull from my library
of inspirational quotes when needed (I know, cheesy but it works for me so I’m
sticking with it!). Physically, the run
went fairly well although I did struggle with my badly blistered right toe,
some knee crunchies and some new ankle and foot pain that lead to having to
stop and retie my shoes a couple of times.
Miles 14 – 16 were spent trying to work through the nagging discomforts which
has starting to morph into something closer to real pain. Thankfully, once I hit 16 miles I had shaken
off most everything with the exception of the toe but once I convinced myself that
it really wouldn’t fall off and that there was no way I was stopping, I picked
a great song (well, two songs actually… Body Movin’ by The Beastie Boys and Shake
It Out by Florence + The Machine), turned it way up and dug in for the final 2
miles.
I have to confess that I fought back a few tears at the end of
today’s run…. I didn’t think I could run all 18 miles but I did. And guess what? I know I can run those 18
miles again and I know that I can run the 8.2 more it will take to cross the
finish line.
18miles, 3 hrs 12min 16sec,
avg 10:41
Cheers,
SF runner in training
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