Long Run Saturday

What a great long run today! Normally I have been doing long runs on Sunday but since the Chicago Marathoners are tapering, I decided to run with the Saturday morning Cruisers. Several are training for Tulsa as I am so we were close on the mileage we needed today, and there were runners that were just doing 10 or so. This pretty much gives everyone at every level someone to run with. My goal was to run 17 today.

We started the run at 7:00am at Southside Elementary doing the 10 mile city route. After that, those that needed more miles would add on by going down 89 to Mt Tabor and across Dogwood to pick various route back to the school. There was probably close to 14-17 runners this morning, the temperature was nice, around 65 but the humidity was high.

I ran the majority of the first 10 miles with David S., both of us keeping a good steady pace and having some good conversations. It felt like we were going pretty fast but it wasn't like I was working extra hard. I think the humidity made it feel that way some. Most of this group was doing a run/walk program. We would run 1 mile than walk maybe 30-50 seconds and we were off again. I didn't really need the walk breaks at first but I figured what the heck, why not try it and see how it works. Plus doing this I would have someone to talk to. It actually worked very well for me. I felt much much better than I did last weekend. We also stopped at about mile 7 for a refill at a convience store. I think I took my first gu at about mile 6 or so which was just over 1 hour of running. I used the Honey that I had got at the bike shop. It seemed to work well last weekend so why not stick with it.

About mile 10.5 put us back at the school so I refilled my water bottled and took an electrolyte tablet. It was much warmer today compared to last Sunday so I knew I better keep extra hydrated. There was probably 5 or 6 girls plus myself doing the add on miles. Several were going for 19 today. I tried to stay with the main group but several of the girls were just a little faster than what I wanted to run. One of our running buddies, Rock, stayed back and ran with me for a while. It was very sweet of her as I knew she usually runs much much faster than what I was doing. I was running 10-11 minute miles. She hung in there with me, talking and helping pass the miles. Brenda and Annette had elected to crew for this group and set up water stops for us which was very nice. Rock and I didn't even stop at mile 12, I just kept running as I knew we were not too far from the scheduled stop. My garmin read 12.99 when we made the stopped and refueled. 4 more miles....I can do it. I felt really good, my feet and legs were not hurting as they had last weekend. My legs were starting to get a little tight at the stops though.
I went ahead and took my last gu here since I was just past the 2 hour mark. Vicki, the president of our club, was not feeling all that good. We ran on but after about half a mile, Rock hung back with her. I caught the other group at the mile 14 walk break. Annette and Brenda would be at 15 with water so we pressed on. Seeing them parked waiting for us was like seeing the finish line. Pretty nice!! 2 miles to go.

The rest of the group was going to run across Dogwood to Campground but I was going to go left on 321 and head for the school which would give me 17. I knew this would be the toughest part of the run today. There are several big hills on 321 going back. Jackie, Jane, and Susan ran with me to 321. They were going to turn around and let Vicki catch back up to finish the run. Susan elected to run in with me which was nice to have the company. I looked ahead at the road and all I could see is one BIG hill in the distance. I told Susan, "that sure looks more than 2 miles away".

We ran on, the other group turned around to meet up with Vicki. All I could do was think about that hill. Actually there was two of them, the other not looking as big. Maybe it really wasn't that big, but at 15+ miles, they all look big! We did our walk break at 16, the sun was out now beating down on us. There was no shade on this road at all. It was hot now. I looked at my garmin and it said 3:00:13. Wow. My goal last weekend was to run 16 miles in 3 hours. Well, I almost made it today. Missed it by 13 seconds, but thats close enough.

I think I ran about 1/2 a mile before I wanted another break. Susan had picked up speed and gotten ahead of me. It was getting harder and harder to start running again after a walk break. I kept thinking, almost there, almost there. I climbed that big hill, though I did walk part of it. It really wasn't that big and I could have kept running but I was about to hit mile 17 anyway. I was just about done! Took a couple more short breaks on that last part but the route was actually longer than 17 miles. I hit the school parking lot and hit stop,, my garmin showing 17.57 miles. Alright!! I was done, and I still felt pretty good. My foot was not hurting and I was happy about how things turned out. In retospect, I wish I had went on with the other group as Jane ended up getting 20 miles today, even though she was only suppose to do 18-19. I could have done it I think. But, better to work up to it some more. I missed several of my normal weekday runs this week but obviously it didn't hurt my long run. And I still have Sunday to add some more miles on since my week runs from Monday-Sunday on my training schedules.

Final Stats:
Total time - 03:21:30
Miles - 17.57
Average pace - 11:28
Splits:
1- 10:47
2- 10:43
3- 10:55
4- 10:50
5- 11:36
6- 10:36
7- 12:14
8- 9:44
9- 11:17
10- 11:48
11- 11:57
12- 10:26
13- 11:35
14- 12:32
15- 12:19
16- 11:57
17- 12:09
18- 13:11