It's the Final Countdown

Yesterday I had my last 20 mile run. I had never actually done more than one 20 mile run during a training season, so I didn't know about this. But I also figured that it was probably good for me.

It was also fun, because we had another fieldtrip run. This one was in Piscataway, New Jersey. We had to carpool and everything. My mentor Gina, was the brave one, and drove us all there.

The weather was perfect. A little cold and a little overcast in the morning, but by the end of the run it was sunny. It was kind of weird because the whole thing was a trail run. At the very beginning (not even a half mile into the run) we were already stopping to walk because there was water running over the mossy rocks and they were VERY slippery. The trail itself was made of tiny rocks as well, so I was just waiting to wipe out and not be able to run the marathon.

I made sure I started out with the 10-minute group so that I would hold back. I felt REALLY good at the pace I was going, until some girl with a GPS started shouting out our pace like every thirty seconds. "Now we're at 9:15. Well, NOW were going 9:30 so that's good. Wait. Now we're going 10:15, we need to speed up." Luckily, her running partner told her that if we were going too slowly for her that she could just go ahead. Problem solved. I did NOT need to be worrying about my pace for an entire 20 miles.

I was feeling really great until about the 9 mile mark. This is when I was having some real stomach issues so I decided to stop (if you think this is just TMI go ahead and skip to the next paragraph). Unfortunately there were no good places to stop on the trail. I slid down a humongous hill filled with prickly bushes (OUCH) and then spent the next few minutes pulling them out of my skin and off of my pants. When I started running again it sort of felt like one had lodged itself into my shoe and was poking my big toe. But after a few seconds I didn't feel it, so I figured it all must have been in my head.

Since I let my group go I was running by myself, which kind of stinks. There were no distinguishing marks on the trail to tell us when to turn around, so one of the coaches said he would make some sort of mark to tell us. I knew we were close because I saw other runners turning back. I just kept running. Until a bunch of girls behind me were screaming "You've gone too far! Turn back!" Whoops. A 20 miler is not exactly a run where you want to go too far.

All the way back I was not feeling so good so I had to keep stopping. This was not good because every time I stopped I could feel my muscles and how tight they were. So when I got to the 4 mile mark (four miles left) I was so glad.

Unfortunately, it was THE longest four miles ever.

But despite everything, I still finished at 3:25, which I didn't consider too bad. Especially since I was SO tired. I will be interested to see how this marathon goes compared with my others. I have definitely trained much harder than normal. I think based on my two twenty mile runs I am going to go for a 4:22.

And now, I'm onto my taper! Hurrah!

P.S. I DID have a sticker lodged into my toe. Now it is under one of my three blisters. Ouch.