20

The 20 miler. The longest run before the marathon. The one that gives you the feeling if you can do it or not...
I did it yesterday. 20 miles. I was supposed to run with our running group this morning but, yesterday at lunch Karrie and I had a fabulous idea. The weather this morning was supposed to be rain/snow and about 34 degrees. The weather yesterday afternoon was sunny and 50. We decided to head out on our own and get it over with, leaving us the rare occasion to sleep in on a Saturday.
At first we were going to run the route our group was doing on Saturday but then when we tried to figure out water/gatorade stops and everything it got too complicated. We went to Miami Whitewater instead. It's a 7.8 mile loop so we did two loops, one in each direction, and then 2.2 in and 2.2 out making an even 20. We had a good strategy--we stopped in the middle at 4 miles for gatorade/clif shots and porta-potty breaks, and then each time we got to the car. It broke the time up pretty well although the route was incredibly boring. On the one hand we didn't have to stop at intersections to navigate turns downtown but on the other hand there was NOTHING to break up the time. Wait, I take that back! I did see several robins, a cardinal, several red-winged blackbirds and one bunny. Can't find that downtown!
So overall I felt pretty good. Things start to hurt towards the end. When I say things I mean pretty much everything waist-down. My toenail didn't hurt much but I found out afterward the reason why (more on that later). I would say we walked a total of maybe 1 1/2 miles throughout the whole run which is pretty good. And Ryan asked, "So, did you have another 6 miles in you at the end?" and I think I did. So I'm feeling pretty confident that in three weeks from tomorrow I will be able to run the marathon with success.
We finished JUST as it got dark (and managed to avoid the rapist-I mean man enjoying nature trail alone in the dark) and I headed for home with a craving for Smokey Bones! I ate 3 (yes, 3) doughnuts in the car on the way home. I was STARVING!!! After eating I took a nice long shower, discovering upon taking off my socks that my toenail that had just grown back had nicely detached itself again! Gross! If that's my only injury...
Today I slept in until 10am which is unheard of for me. Ryan and I went out for a huge breakfast and to the mall where, as I limped around, he insisted (personal trainer that he is) that it was good for my legs to be out walking around. My legs disagreed. At the grocery store I leaned on the cart for support the entire time. Maybe another good thing about running on Friday will be the extra day to recover before I head back to work on Monday. Hopefully tomorrow the soreness will be better/gone. But, I did it. It's all tapering from here on out! I can't wait!