Well, That Was Difficult

Running 17 miles today was simply the most difficult running workout I've ever had. I quit.

Okay, I'm not quitting but geeeeeeeeeez this was hard.

I was up at 5 for instant oatmeal with peanut butter in it, a banana, water and Gatorade. I packed three Carb BOOM packets in my gear bag and got to 6th and Madison early enough to run a couple of miles before the Half Wits had their practice run on the Lincoln Memorial course.

I got going and about three blocks into my run I encountered Mary and Emily, so I ran with them. I know we were going faster than I should have, but who's gonna tell those two to slow down? Not me.

And things weren't bad on the half marathon course until around 8.5 miles (about 10.8 for me). I even ran up the Lincoln Street hill without much problem. Then we hit Oak Ridge Cemetery, and I walked up that hill. From that point on, I wimped out on the hills.

But things didn't get better. We hit the 12 mile mark (14.3 for me) and the only thing that kept me going was not wanting to fall too far behind the women I was running with. After we crossed the finish line, I set out for another mile and a half, and it was slow going. Then it was walking, running, walking, running.

Sheeesh.

Once I got done, I was so drained that I plopped into the back seat of my car and dug around for a dry T-shirt to change into. The morning had stayed cold but 17 miles meant that I had soaked my shirts with sweat. So I struggled out of the running shirts and into a T-shirt. Then I dug out a dry long-sleeved T-shirt to go over the other one. Then I hauled myself to a standing position by the car to pull on my heavy ISU hooded sweatshirt.

That's when the Mormon missionaries decided to start talking to me. Why me, God? I commiserated with them a bit over the fact that I had hauled my 51-year-old fat body through 17 miles and they were quite impressed. Then I begged them to just let me go home--I could chat with Mormon missionaries another day.

They were nice about it.

I had no calf cramps during the run, but my legs feel tired and a bit tight. What's weird is that my ankles don't feel outrageously sore the way I expected them to feel after 17 miles. We'll see what tomorrow brings.