14 days to 50 miles

Miles run: 42.5

What was planned:

Tuesday: 5 Thursday: 30 min / 8x20 strides/ 30 min (5.5) Saturday: 22 Sunday: 10

Wow - this was my highest mileage week so far!

This week felt a bit smoother than this past week/weekend with getting our new dogs. We are still adjusting to life with 2 greyhounds, and working on getting them adapted to our schedule while still honoring theirs from the kennel. Getting my runs done is only hard because I don't want to leave them, or I want to rush through the run to get home to be with them.

What got done: Tuesday: I headed to the CVT after work to complete these easy 5 miles. I have nothing to report (which is good).

Thursday: A few days before this run, I asked my coach if I could turn this into an easy 5-6 miles (hoping she would say yes), but she still wanted these strides done. I did this in the afternoon and was honestly quite miserable. The humidity and warm temperatures, after my body has been adapting to and loving the cooler fall temperatures, made this run difficult. I felt like I was swimming and an elephant was on my chest. The thick air made it so difficult to breathe. I ran this so slow, a mix of being tired and the humidity. Thursday and Friday's weather made me so apprehensive about my long run on Saturday that I’ve been looking forward to.

Saturday: I was relieved when I felt the temperatures Saturday morning. It was a cool 60, with on-and-off rain/drizzle. Much, much better than the past two days. I woke up at 4:30 but snoozed my alarm until 5 (sorry to my husband), then got up and started to get ready. I started my long run shortly after 6. I had my headphones with me, but for safety purposes, I planned to run in silence until the sun came up, which was peaceful.  Once it was light out,  I still ran with no music to work on being alone with my thoughts and talk some things out with myself. I kept telling myself I’d put music on at certain miles but kept enjoying the solitude. I ended up not putting music on til mile 19, and that was only because my stomach started to hurt, and I wanted a distraction.

I ran to the SRT from my house and took it to Valley Forge.  For years, I’ve wanted to do this run where I run from my house to Valley Forge and complete the paved loop there.  The second part of that goal was running home, but that didn’t happen on Saturday.  I hit my fuel every 30 minutes and felt generally decent during this run.  I was running off feel, not trying to hit a pace or anything, knowing that this was my longest training run and my legs (and body) were so tired.  Up until mile 19, I felt good and, as mentioned, hit my fuel marks every 30 minutes.  I was eating a honey stinger waffle and started to dry heave. It felt like, out of nowhere, my stomach just turned.  I was worried that I wasn’t going to hit 22 as I was overcome with a wave of severe nausea.  I put music on, walked for a little, and it settled down enough for me to finish my run and hit 22 miles. I started to tear up as I was finishing, out of disbelief and pure pride that I got this run done, and that my training cycle is coming to an end. After I finished, my friend Caylin picked me up, and we headed to Spread in KOP for bagels. Then, she drove me home so she could meet my dogs!

Sunday: I ambitiously set my alarm for 5:30 this morning, snoozed it, and then changed it so I could sleep in until 7-7:15.  I started my run around 8:30, and while my legs weren’t overly sore from yesterday's 22, they were definitely tired. I ran from my house to the SRT and took it out for 5 miles before heading home. I quickly showered and tried to take a power nap before I had to get ready for work.

It's hard to believe in 14 days I'll be running 50 miles. At this point, I'm still really excited for it and not nervous yet. I know the nerves will set in soon but I also know I've given this training cycle my all so I truly feel ready to tackle this distance.