Going Long

This week my long run was supposed to be 14 miles.  I was worried because I've already done 16, and there was no buffer zone in my training between that 16 and the 20 miler I have planned in three weeks.  This is because I'm running leg 7 of the Burning River relay (16.1 trail miles) this weekend and 3 sets of 10 trail miles for the Ragnar Trail Appalachians race the following week.

It was Shelby's week to plan, and she had the brilliant idea to run the back half of the Akron Marathon, since I have never run that part of the course. She told me that she added in a tiny bit so we could hit 14 miles, and I was really grateful. . .

Until we hit 14 miles. . .

And we were a LONG way from our cars.

WHAT?????

This is EXACTLY how I look when I realize we are far away from our cars.

Needless to say, I got my buffer zone. . . right in the ass.  We ran 17 miles when I was really only mentally prepared for 14 or so.  One part of me is pleased as punch because A) I ran more than 16 miles, as I originally wanted to do, and B) I was able to pull it out when I wasn't at my prime mentally.  Shelby is a big help with that; she is really good at shrugging her shoulders and sucking it up, and that is what we did.

Had I realized earlier on that we were going to run 17 miles, I would have fueled differently, and that would have made a big difference in my attitude, but guess what?  I DID IT ANYWAY.

This is EXACTLY how Shelby and I look after 17 miles in extremely hot, muggy weather.
We even still like each other here!

I gotta give a shout-out to BondiBand.  I wear their headbands for every run because I sweat like a pig (even though pigs don't sweat) even in the coldest weather.  This run would have been intolerable without a BondiBand to keep the sweat from my eyes.  If you want to order your own BondiBand products (think compression-wear, too), check out their website and use my code (TroubleRun) to get a 10% discount.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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