Saturday Sixteen

This weekend I had my big 16-miler, which has actually been my longest run all season. When I started walking to practice it was pouring and I was happy! It has been nothing but hot, humid and altogether unpleasant for the past week or so, and I was happy we were running in the rain instead of the unbearable heat and humidity that was predicted.

It was also the last weekend for Summer Streets :( so we were once again doing the Park Avenue run (and then across Manhattan to the West Side Highway (yuck) and finishing with a five mile loop in the park.

Since it was a lot cooler out because of the rain I took out my run a lot faster than I meant to. I can't believe I did this, because I was running exactly between the 9 minute pace group and the 10 minute pace group and was going for a 9:30 pace. But I felt great! (When will I learn? :)

(The pace for my first few miles were 8:41, 8:29, 8:07).

As we reached the bottom of Manhattan to cut across Chambers, the rain stopped. I didn't mind though because it wasn't exactly sunny out. But then the sun did come out and you know how people say "you could cut the air with a knife?" Now I know what they were talking about!

Luckily, I had succeeded in cutting my pace back to around a nine minute mile. (For a little while.) The girl I was running with kept saying we could slow down if I wanted, and I kept saying I was totally for that, but neither of us seemed able to do it. (Next few miles 9:09, 8:57, 9:00, 8:44, 8:48).

We stopped for water and I felt dizzy (uh oh). I was also very very tired. My arms were feeling very heavy. The humidity was definitely getting to me. I was glad I had lots of electrolytes with me. In fact, I went through my entire belt full of Gatorade before we got back to Central Park. I figured that was okay though, since there were so many water fountains there.

Rebecca and I DEFINITELY felt like we had done more than 11 miles at this point, and were both dreading the next 5 miles. We said it felt like the last five miles of a marathon, so we knew we had to just run with our guts at this point.

Unfortunately, my guts did NOT like Harlem Hill, which was at the end of my run (since I decided to end my run on my street, unlike everyone else who went back to the start). I ended up walking a fair amount until I felt better and ended up with a 2:29 (which averages out to a 9:20 pace).

I felt so tired and drained, but I was happy with my time. Now only if I can reverse the order and do a negative split next time, I'll be great!