(Slow) Success at Sixteen
Yesterday I awoke at 6:30 AM, expecting to get in a 16 mile run, but was greeted by pouring rain instead. I decided I’d head back to sleep, with the hopes that it might let up or stop later in the day. Come the Bills/Denver game at 1, it was still raining, so I waited a little longer. At half time, the rain in the city of Buffalo had stopped, but I realized that I would have needed to switch the side of the street my truck was on in the middle of the run, so I planned on beginning after the Bills game ended. After a heartbreaking last second Bill’s loss, I headed outside to my porch to stretch, but it was pouring harder than at any time previous during the day.
I was discouraged about getting soaked but more concerned about ruining my brand new iPod Nano. I called my friend Greg (a fellow runner) for some encouragement. Since he was driving, I talked to his wife for a while. A short talk with her and she straightened me out enough to start, but after turning on my Forerunner 201 watch, discovered there was less than an hour’s worth of battery left on it. I headed back upstairs, plugged it in for a quick charge, and did an extended set of stretches until there was enough battery left to cover the whole run.
Half an hour later, the rain had let up a little and I was finally on the road. This was the first run for my new Amphipod RunLite Hydration Belt. Not sure of what to expect, I filled all four bottles on it (2 with Gatorade, 2 with water), but only put two on the belt itself. I planned to replace the first two about half way through by looping back past the house. I placed my cell phone and some Clif Shot Bloks in the front pouch and my apartment keys in the belt pocket. It didn’t take very long to get used to and only required some small shuffling around my hips to keep from bouncing. Aside from catching myself pushing out my stomach to prevent bouncing, the only issue I ran into was not realizing I had to close the tops of the bottles more than I did. I ended up spraying myself with both water and Gatorade for a while after the first use of both bottles, but it was so wet out I didn’t even realize or care. I tried to consume more liquid than I normally would & went through all four bottles before the day was over. It was really nice to have the Shot Bloks on me, but at one point I forgot they were there when I should have been taking them. I’ll definitely use it again and will try all four bottles at once.
Overall, I ran a minute or so under 2:30:00, putting me at a 9:14/minute average pace. When I looked at the splits, I was surprised that most of them were slower than normal, and a tad bit discouraged - a 9:15/minute average pace equates to a 4:02:00 marathon finishing time. I’m undecided if the weather hurt because it was so rainy or helped because it was cool outside. I’m undecided on the benefits of the fuel belt as well - it was nice to have so much liquid, but drinking that much liquid required me to slow down to consume it (I’d hoped to be able to squirt it into my mouth while at full speed, but that didn’t work well). Last night I could tell I’d been out running, but I feel pretty good today - another difference from last year, when I would have been in a lot of pain.
While my ultimate goal would be to crack 4:00:00, my real goal is to beat my brother’s marathon time of 4:08:xx. I’m starting to realize that this is quite a feat though and that merely finishing will be a feat in itself. Then again, I also think about having one month of training time left, essentially 1/4 of a marathon training plan. The mental struggle will be just as difficult as the physical one from here on out.
This coming Sunday I run the Rochester Half Marathon. I’m hoping to take it relatively easy and still be able to run a 1:50:00. Tonight I may kick the soccer ball around casually in the park and tomorrow I have an indoor soccer game as well, but other than that, I only have a couple short runs before the race Sunday.