Marathon Training - 19 Miles

Yesterday I embarked on my longest training run to date ... 19 miles! And in TRUE New England form the weather called for a 95-100% humidity - Yaayyy!!! <>

But, Sarah and I are strong so we pushed through.

We met at our usual spot on the Charles River at 6:30am and headed out.

She was going to run the first 10 miles of my 19 mile run with me - she is training for our B.A.A. Half Marathon on October 7.

We got into a GREAT groove with a pace that stuck around the 9 min/mile range, which we both felt was a-okay with how humid it was.

About eight miles in, I started to feel a twinge of pain in my right ankle, but I kept stretching it and pushed through.

We stopped at Mile 10 for Sarah to get to her car and for me to refuel.

Sarah is up to speed on running with a blogger - "So are we taking our picture now?" Yes, yes we are. :)

How could we not with how awesome we look. ;)

So I bid farewell to Sarah and headed back out to finish the last 9 miles, but then the ankle pain started leading to some knee pain while led to some hip pain.

Could it really have been in my head? Maybe partly, but I wasn't about to risk it.

I made the executive decision to cut the run at 14 miles and finish it up later that night.

I had to be proud of pushing through the 14 miles in that humidity, but as you can see my pace slowed down in those last 4 miles. So I was proud of myself for listening to my body.

I drove home, showered, ran errands with the wife and decided to try the last 5 miles at about 5pm.

Somehow it seemed even warmier and muggier than the morning run.

But, I felt better. Despite having run 14 miles just hours ago, my legs came out strong in the evening run. I actually kept a sub 8:30 min/mile pace and the ankle was painfree.

I think the bumps and ridges on the Charles River path might have led to the pain in my ankle ... plus it is time to get a new pair of running sneakers! I think I have too many miles on the current pair.

Either way, I did it. I freakin' did it. I completed 19 miles. Wow! The pride I feel cannot even be put into words.

This marathon training has helped me prove to myself over and over again how strong I really am!

 

Technically the 19 miles were all supposed to be done at once, but total mileage is total mileage right?

Running 19-consecutive miles? I'll get there.