Leg Lesson

I had every intention of getting off to my long run this morning at 6:30am. I had a 15 miler to hammer out and preferred not to take up my entire day by prolonging the start...buuuuuut I kind of did anyway. My husband got back from his run at 6am and woke me, but next thing I knew my son was up and it was 8am. Crap. Well, might as well roll with it at this point. 

While my son ate breakfast I made some cinnamon toast...on white bread. I hate white bread but those simple, refined carbs absorb quickly so it works for quick fuel. I downed some coffee, hydrated and got ready to head out. I knew that I could complete the run, I just didn't want to ya know? I just wasn't feeling it. Too bad, marathon's awaitin' right?

I was going to use my same strategy of going out at a conservative pace and then pick it up for the second half, or at least the last quarter. I was feeling good about that plan until mile 7 rolled around and my legs began to ache; with each passing mile the pain in my legs became more acute. Great. Now to finish my long run I had to turn to survival mode. The longer I ran, though, the more I thought about it and decided it was not such a bad thing that I was feeling so poor. Lucky for me I have 2 marathons under my belt, so I am all too familiar with the invariable pain they cause. Time to use the rest of this run to show my legs what they have to look forward to in 10 weeks. 

I did just that, even when every fiber of my being was screaming for me to take a short cut and run home, I didn't. I dug deep for some energy and endurance to keep each leg pumping to complete all 15 miles. I was scheduled to perform the run at a 9:58 pace and it took me 2:33.41 to complete, so my pace was actually a 10:14. I am okay with that, particularly in light of the 2 hard runs I had on Wednesday and Thursday. Plus this run put over 30 miles for the week and I have not done that in 6 years. Bonus.