16.5 miles & a gift for myself

Wow - I cannot believe I completed a 16.5 mile run this past Saturday. It was by far the hardest run I have faced in my life. It was also the furthest run I have ever done in my life. That coupled with the heat and my brief time off from my hip injury = did not make for a good day. I was physically and mentally drained and three days later I am still suffering in pain.

I was a little hesitant about jumping right back into a long run after being off for 10 days, but I decided to give it a go. I left my house at 6:30am and jogged 6 miles down to Hoboken to meet my running friends. I decided ahead of time to run with Prerna and do 10 miles with her. Prerna is training for the Adirondack Marathon and was actually completing a total of 18 miles on Saturday! The first part of the run was fine but after that it was a struggle. As soon as we left Hoboken I realized that I could not keep up with Prerna or anyone else in the group. She had her GPS watch on and said we were running anywhere from a 10:10-10:45 pace - well why on earth did I feel like I was sprinting?! I took my time and am so glad Prerna was nice enough to wait for me at certain points and make sure I was ok. We stopped for water, stopped to stretch but even so I was still struggling. I finished the run in about 2:45, and with all the stops it was about 3:00 hours. Wow, I still cannot even believe I did that. I drank a ton of water and ate two gels (GU) and felt decent but noticed I was covered in a thick layer of white salt after the run. It was actually more like crunchy sea salt - gross! I don't sweat a lot but salt seems to pour out of me. I learned that this is not good and can cause dehydration. I drank about 50 ounces of water but that doesn't matter, the loss of salt can be detrimental. Now that I established I am a "salty sweater" I know going forward that I need to consume salt packets while running. FUN!

So - the real pain did not set in until I got home. I quickly ate because I was starving and also started to ice my hip and legs. I showered and cleaned up and was suddenly doubled over in pain. My stomach was in an uproar. Ugh. Not only that but I felt so weak and my legs were like jello. I laid down on the couch and did not move from 12:00pm until 8:00pm. I even broke down crying and told Matt I don't know how I am going to make it through if I feel like this after every long run. He told me he thinks I did too much and that the heat got to me. I also consulted with 2 running friends who said it was normal to feel like this and that yes the heat probably got to me. All I know is I felt like crap and think I have a long road ahead of me. Running has not been hard so far so this was definitely my first real challenge. No one said it is going to be easy but I just felt so defeated and it upset me.

My spirits did get lifted later that night with a bit of retail therapy. After dinner I felt a little bit better and we decided to go out and run a few errands. Sports Authority was having a sale and I wanted to pick up another pair of running shoes. I was also able to purchase an insurance-type protection plan for my running shoes, can you believe there is such a thing? I also picked up a few Nike tank tops and Matt got a new Jets shirt. I loved my new purchases and am so glad they were all on sale!

Then we stopped at the new Nordstrom Rack which was on our way home. I walked in the store and could not believe my eyes: front and center was a huge rack of True Religion Jeans! I felt like the clouds parted and music was playing and that all of my jean dreams had come true! I am a total jeans freak and have been wanting a pair True Religions for 3 years now but did not have the guts to spend $250+ on them. When I got accepted to the NYC Marathon I said I was going to splurge and buy myself a pair or at least try find some on sale. I always keep an eye out on sale racks but they never have them in the style or size I need. However here they were, in all their glorious-ness, my dream jeans! I only had a few minutes to complete the transaction as the store was closing so I had to be quick! I tried them on, they fit and it was a done deal! I really felt like it was meant to be. I had a rough day and was down in the dumps and fate interceded and brought me to my jeans. Yes this all sounds silly but I have had a couple bouts with fate and do believe in it, even if it has to do with a material item! Ha ha!

Here they are - I love them!