Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Great Race + 18 Mile Long Run

Friday I had an easy 8 on the schedule, but decided to drop it down to 5 since I knew my legs had been workkked thoroughly during the week.  It was a nice and easy run until some chick decided to "race" me on the bike trail.  It was so weird/random.  She flew past me on the bike trail, huffing and puffing and then stayed half a step in front of me.  When I'd try to pass her (because I was sick of trying to avoid running on her heels) she'd speed up too.  After about the third time of this, I finally passed her for good.  So maybe I accidentally got a couple of miles in at MP.  No biggie.  The good news is, when I got a block away from my house I realized that I had blocked out 4 of the 5 miles I  had just run.  The only parts I remember are "the race."
Saturday I had the dreaded 18 miler on tap.  I hate 18 miles.  And it hates me (if a random long run number could attribute feelings towards a human, that is).  My stomach was super duper upset all morning, so I didn't head out til early afternoon.  Which was fine because it was gorrrrrrgeous out.

Within the first few miles of the run, I was in a residential area, and there were a couple of 8 year old (approx.) boys on their bikes trailing me.  One of them shouts out, "Hi! You look like you've been running all morning!"  I feel like I should be offended as I'm only on mile 3, but I give the kid the benefit of the doubt.  Plus he's wearing a Packers hoodie, so clearly he's gotta be a cool kid.  I tell him that I still have 15 miles left to do.  To which he replies, "Wow!  15 miles! That's alot! Are you hungry?  Want me to get you some food?"  At this point I'm ready to ask for his business card and to speak to his parents to get their permission for me to "rent" this kid Saturday mornings to be my personal biking/food sherpa for my long runs.  Sigh.  Maybe our paths will cross again, and he'll be prepared with my favorite foods.  I'll for sure look him up if I ever get interested in ultras. ;)

The rest of the run was pretty great except for the final few miles.  I ran out of water, and was pretty wiped out.  Plus I had to reroute my...well...route... for the 3rd time.  No bueno.  Running by your apartment 17 times while on a run is suckkkkkkkkkkkkky.

I did 18 miles in 2:54 ish (I'm too lazy to look) for a pace of 9:47.
Check out Eat, Drink, Run's butt-chaffage-no-more giveaway.

9 comments:

Jen Feeny said...

I was just thinking to myself I haven't seen a post from Jeri in a few days... Great job getting the 18 miler done, I always feel so sad you hate the 18 miler so much because I love me an 18 miler. Too funny about the "race"!

Kier said...

Nice work on the 18 miler! (My husband dubs as my biking sherpa on my long runs...LOVE HIM!) :)

Evolving Through Running said...

Congrats on conquering your arch-enemy, the dreaded 18. I'm with Morgan - I like that distance. 20-miles and I, however, are not currently on speaking terms.

Great story with the kid on the bike. You may have inspired a future runner.

Julie D said...

That's a good 18-miler. For some reason, mine always seem to go poorly, so I'd do 17. =D

X-Country2 said...

WOo hoo on 18!

Anonymous said...

Successful 18 w/o a near-death experience?!! HIGH FIVE.

That kid sounds amazing, you could make business cards FOR him and just wait around til you see him next. It's like you will have decided his Sherpa fate, and he'll be okay with it.

Anonymous said...

that kind might wanna start his OWN food/drink sherpa biz...U can be his silent partner...

Shawn said...

I got one of those kid comments the other day....said to his Dad as I ran by

"Look how sweaty that guy is!!!!"

Have a great weekend!

Nicole @ Haute Runner said...

Nice race! I had that happen to me yesterday- except it was on the road in my car. I won!

That kid sounds pretty cute!