I thought about my blog post, and how I would describe my run. I worked out the little phrases I’d use and the descriptions of how I felt as I plodded along. All of those thoughts have since escaped me. I have only the following dull description of my run for you:
Having not been able to join the team for this weekend’s coached run, I made plans to do my long run early. After all, what good is a vacation if you cannot go long on any day of the week. Wendy had graciously offered to have YaYa over while I did the deed. I left straight from her home in the effort to make the best of the time available.
Just prior to the starting out, I pulled out my iPhone to select the entertainment. I was a little disappointed to find my playlists had not transferred when I switched the computer which I sync it with. I decided that a sampling from my entire music selection would have to do.
With my varied taste in music playing in one ear, and the blowing wind playing in the other, I set out towards the trail. The music acted as a backdrop to the thoughts that went in and out of my head. I evaluated how I felt about the various things that entered my mind. Was I still angry, sad, or frustrated? There was a familiarity with this exercise. It was nice to come into the present. Sometimes a song would trigger a thought, and other times it helped me to escape one.
I wasn’t breaking any records during this run, but I felt good during the majority of it. I kept to the dirt whenever it was available, and kept my pace nice and easy. My only consideration was to be back at a reasonable time for Wendy. I sent her text message updates from each of my gel stops.
As far as my knee went, I only felt a twinge on only a couple of occasions. The first was as I stepped up onto the sidewalk, from the trail, while stopping for gel. It was no different than the feeling I get when entering my own house. Another time, I felt it as I was starting up again.
Around mile 10, the “bonk” began working on me. There were several suspects to blame for my bonking. First off, I could blame my light breakfast. I have not had much of an appetite before my long runs during this training season. Secondly, I only had two packets of Hammer Gel with me. Taking into account my light breakfast, three gels would have allowed more frequent fuel replacements. Rather than water, or Gatorade, I was trying out Perpetuem. Given all of the other factors, I cannot tell whether it had a positive or negative effect on my during this run. I can say that having it, gave me a false sense of security fuel-wise. The final suspect for my bonking was my lack of exercise during the past two weeks. This is nothing that I would change; my knee needed time to recover.
Needless to say, I was not interested in doubling back on the trail when my mileage came up short. I decided that a 14 mile run would be adequate and, if I felt that 16 miles was required, I would do a short run later in the day. This proved to be a wise choice as my stomach began cramping with gas pains and I was beat. I collected up YaYa (who had a fabulous time with Wendy’s son), and headed home for some post-run pampering which included a nice long nap.