The Impossible becomes Possible!

My mom and I at dinner after "the run"

(This is what I look like without my cute bondiband)

Wow, I RAN 20 MILES! Knowing that I had already ran 18 miles I thought those 2 miles would not be too bad, well I was wrong. Who knows why some days are just harder mentally and physically than others? I was so happy to be able to run the final 10 with my mom. Running on my own for 2-4 hours doesn’t sound fun anymore… at all!!! The first 10 seemed to fly by…well since it’s been 3 days I can say that, maybe if I had wrote this right after I might not be thinking that, but I will go with it. I did start getting a little knee pain at mile 6 which was new and it scared me a little! Was worried that it might keep me from the last 10 miles, but I really wanted to get this FIRST 20 miler out of the way and not have to finish it another day.

1st Half/Solo

Miles: 10.04

Pace: 10:21

Time: 1:44

Calories: 1237

Got started on my 2nd half…the last 10 miles with my mom. I was feeling good and was hoping that the knee pain would start to fade, but it didn’t. I decided that I would split my run up again so for the 20 miles I broke it into 5 miles which worked ok until the last 5 miles. What’s funny (or maybe not so funny) about running with someone you are really close with is that you have no filter and if you aren’t happy you don’t try and hide it and this was me the last 5 miles. I was hurting, I didn’t want to run anymore and I really didn’t want to talk about it…in fact a few times I felt like just crying! What is running doing to me? It is so DARN MENTAL! I know that if I had been by myself that I would have stopped for SURE! I forgot to mention that this was also my mom’s first double digit of the year so that was exciting (that’s some good news)! The last 5 miles seemed to take forever and mile 16 would not END! I decided to break it down to 2.5 miles for the last 5 miles to make it easier, but just knowing how far that was as far as the course, the map in my head…it seemed a lot further. When we were at mile 18.5 I told my mom that even as hard as this is…I am so THANKFUL that God gave me these legs to run and the stamina and endurance to endure this…I was trying to think positive. I was in PR territory at this point, though at the moment that really didn’t matter, but as I write this…I realize how cool that was. We finally came to the end…20 MILES! I had done it, and so had my mom with her first 10 miler of 2010.

2nd Half/ With Mom

Miles: 10.01

Pace: 11:21

Time: 1:53

Calories: 1225

As soon as I was done I could smile and was in a good mood. I was too tired to walk up NICE hill to get my car so my mom was so KIND enough to do it while I rested on the grass, in the same place Diana rested after my 18 miler. One great thing I learned on this run is that I know what I need for encouragement and what I don’t need. Sometimes I feel like talking and sometimes I don’t. I love to hear “You’re doing a great job”, “You can do this”. I don’t like to hear…”only __ more to go”…”You have already done__ miles”…”What’s __ more miles, you have done it a million times”. Why don’t I like to hear it? Because when you are tired and hate running at the moment the thought of how far you have already gone, how much further you have to go is killer in the mental department and I don’t mean Killer in a positive light. 3 miles at the end of a long run seems like FOREVER and the last mile seems like 3. I realized I have to turn my brain off and not think about some things. Again…training is so much more than just physical training. I just think new milage when you get into these long distances will always be harder than you think. I am hoping my next 20 miler will go better.

Total:

Miles: 20.05

Pace: 10:51

Time: 3:38

Calories: 3026

I love that I finally ran 20 miles! At one time that seemed impossible. Just thinking about my 20 miler when I started my training seemed so unreal and now I write this and I have done it. I love training! The impossible becomes possible!
I am still trying to get my energy gels figured out. I have been taking Clif Shot Bloks, but like Gu’s and beans they make my stomach feel sick so I only end up taking a couple and then I can’t do anymore. I need to figure something out because I know for my marathon I have to take something. Are you doing anything new? Do you deal with stomach issues when you take the energy gels?

**Read below...I finally blogged about my runs last week.  With my mom in town it made it hard to make time to write.