Final 20 Mile Run

This weekend I had my final 20 miler on the schedule.  Unfortunately for me, I had to work until 1pm on Saturday.  Extra unfortunate for me was the forecasted weather for Saturday and Sunday.  The weather report showed roughly the same crappiness level of weather for both days, so I opted for Saturday to be the day so I could hang out with my friends in the evening if I so desired.

While working I ate a burrito at about 10:30am to make sure that I would have some fuel in my belly once the time to run came around.  Yes I got strange looks for eating lunch at 10:30...no prob.  Once 1 o'clock hit I flew out of the office.  The forecast was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon and goal A was to get home before being struck by lightning.  Random fact:  I am deathly afraid of lightning.  As in, I'll start crying if I'm stuck outside during it.  Yeah.

I decided to do a 4 mile loop around my apartment and then to hit the trail for an 8 mile out and back (the same one I do on 95% of my long runs, and the one I did for last weekend's 16).  I didn't know this at the time, but this would be the best decision of the day on my part.

As soon as I stepped outside the wind caused my hair to whip into my face.  Awesome.  I turned back around to see what the wind was at 20-25 mph wind gusts.  Excellent.  The first 4 miles were very hilly, but actually worked out pretty swell.  For all of the uphills, I had the wind at my back.  For all the downhills I was running in to the wind.  It actually worked out just great.
1. 9:15
2. 9:16
3. 9:20
4. 9:22 

At mile 4 I was happy to be back at my apartment because the sun was out in full force.  As obnoxious as I look wearing my ginormo sunglasses, it's 1000x better than wrinkles from being all squinty faced for 3 hours.  I also grabbed a sip of water because I was thirsty.  This was my first long run that I left my handheld water bottle at home for, since the water fountains have been turned on.

I knew that once I rounded back to my apartment I would begin the most difficult 8 miles of the run, because they would be 98% into the wind.  I tried to keep a steady pace and to not push too much running into the wind.  I figured my pace would counteract with the remaining 8 miles with the wind at my back.  I took my first Gu at 6 miles.  The best part of tacking on 4 miles before my normal long run route, was that I was super excited every time a new mile ticked off and it was +4 miles from what I thought it should be.
5. 9:30
6. 9:36
7. 9:32
8. 9:17 

Luckily the next four miles the wind was just hitting me from the side so it didn't interfere with my pace too much.  At this point I thought I was literally running in to the end of the world.  It was fluffy clouds and sunshine above me, but to the north-north east the sky was ominous and black.  The thunder started rumbling at mile 10 when I was taking my second Gu.  I thought, "oh great.  I still have 2 more miles running AWAY from home before I can even head back...."  I figured if I had to outrun a storm it would only serve to help me run faster. ;)  During these miles I started to get pretty warm.  During this four mile stretch there isn't much shade, so the sun was really beating down on me.  I also wished I had my handheld to wet my whistle with.
9. 9:20
10. 9:17
11. 9:21
12. 9:22 

This section was probably my least favorite because I was just hot and thirsty.  Again this was the "back" portion of the area with no shade, and since the wind was at my back instead of my face, I was sweltering.  I opted to wait for mile 15 to take my last Gu, but suddenly mile 15 appeared and the fountain I was looking for wasn't there.  If you want to know what I look like when I'm pissed, go back in time and check out my face at this point.  So.Not.Happy.  I knew the next fountain was a mile and a half away, but that seemed like forever.
13. 9:20
14. 9:16
15. 9:26
16. 9:17 

When I finally got to the fountain, I drank and drank and drank some more.  I may have also poured handfuls of water over my head, neck, and back in an attempt to cool myself off.  P.S.  Salt laden sweat in the eyeballs HURTS.  I definitely took more time Guing/hydrating than I typically do, so my hips were so sore when I got going again.  I was definitely putzing/limping along for the next 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile before my legs got their normal gait back.  Geez.  Usually I start my "kick" to the end around the 5k point.  Ya, apparently my legs weren't feeling it....maybe at 2 miles out.  Nope.  Guess we'll just do a strong finishing mile.  Well of course I had to take the normal 10-15 second walk detour around the major construction on the trail.  At this point my Garmin decides to freak out, so I have to rest it with .88 miles to go.  Stupid watch.  Then while getting off the bike trail and on to the sidewalk, 6 cars drive by so I have to slow way down to let them pass.  Also, I just didn't have a kick left in me.
17. 9:14
18. 9:22
19. 9:22
20. 9:11

I finished the 20 in 3:07:05 for a pace of 9:22.

Since I've been doing this for the past 24 hours, I would like to compare 20 Miler #1 to 20 Miler #2.  Time:  3:07:40 to 3:07:05  Super impressed with how close they are.  Makes me supremely confidant that I can be pretty close to that time pace for the marathon.
Mile Split Range:  8:19 to 9:48 (difference of 1:29) vs. 9:11 to 9:36 (difference of :25).  Very excited about this, and see this as a huge improvement from the last one.  Granted the last one was done on a much hillier route, but I always like to see consistent mile times.  Also excited that only 3 miles were in the 9:30 range on the 2nd one, and those were the 3 directly into the wind.
Temperature:  35* vs. 70*.  Yes it was TWICE as warm on this run.  I hope to hell there isn't a heat wave in Green Bay, because this body does not bode well in the heat.  I was too embarassed to even take pictures of the saltiness this week.  Look at last week's than multiply x 10.  Or 20.  My skin literally felt like I had exfoliating body was on.  Barf.
Aches and Pains:  Very intense pain in the backs of my knees which lasted for a few days post run.  Vs.  Some minor aches in my knees and major tiredness in my hips for the last few miles.  Pain=not my friend. Aches/soreness=whatevs.

And now the ugly portion of the run (I really hope that I don't have any followers that are major foot fetishers :/).

Uh oh! I spy a bloody sock....that can only mean one thing....bloody tootsie.

Close up, because I haven't heard you barfing yet.

The area of my foot that *usually* bleeds.  Now it's just 3" of scar tissue.  Try to penetrate me now dirt/sand/general debris!

Lame-o shot, but this one did bleed.  Pussy....  And you can see my post-run pizza box in the background.  MMMMMM.

Nasty blood/? blister.  When I popped it, the contents were the color of gravy/grape jam.  Now you've thrown up in your mouth, yes?

I survived the meat and potatoes (or in my case the pizza and the ice cream) of MARATHON TRAINING Here's hoping I can survive the taper!