Tonight is the end of a very long week. First, I’ve been on-call for work. We had many issues at work, and I basically worked 12 – 14 hour days all week. I had planned this as a my cut back week, so I only ran two days, Wednesday and Friday. Then, on Friday the Cincinnati area ended up with blizzard conditions. From Friday to Saturday afternoon almost 13 inches of snow fell. So, we had to cancel the long run on Saturday.
So, today, Sunday, we did our long run here in Ft. Thomas. We mapped out a seven mile course that was clear on the main streets. Maureen and Victoria were scheduled to run 15 miles, I was scheduled for 18. We started out at about 8:10 AM. It was 10 degrees F, and was a little tough to get out there. The back of my left knee was bothering me until about mile 3. It was just tight, but it did bother me. I took a minute or two to stretch it out and it was much better.
Fast forward to 5.7 miles, I went to get a salt capsule and some gatorade. The salt was fine, the gatorade was frozen. It was like drinking an icee, of course it was tough to get it out of the bottle. Anyway, I did manage to get a drink without too much trouble.
At this point, Maureen was complaining of her right foot hurting. She said that it felt like her sock was bunched up. But, it was getting worse. She took off the shoe and “fixed” her sock. Fast forward to mile 9 or so. Maureen started to walk because her foot was hurting much more. From my own personal experience, it’s probably a Morton’s Neuroma. She’s going to go to my podiatrist and have it examined. She ended up walking home, while Victoria and I continued.
We continued without any issue, other than stupid drivers. We were on the side of the road, with very little traffic. But, several drivers wouldn’t move over for us, even though there were no other cars. Jerks! I stopped by my house at about mile 11.5 for a Bio-Break. Victoria continued, so I worked to catch up to her. I ran well over my MAF to catch up, or at least it felt like I did. I ended up doing a 10:20 mile at an average HR of only 150. I was happy about that.
Victoria really started to stiffen up and slow down around mile 13. But, she made it to 15 and survived. I went on without her from about mile 14.25. Miles 14, 15, and 16 were ok. 17 and 18 were just tough, I was just tired and tired of dodging cars and snow drifts. But, I made it and it what I felt was good time. I completed the 18 in 3:31:02, a 11:43 average.
I also joined two new clubs this weekend. First, the more miles than degrees club. 18 miles in 10 degree weather. Second, I joined the more miles than inches of snow club. Again, 18 miles in almost 13 inches of snow. The group long run next week is my first 20 miler. With my experience today, it shouldn’t be that bad.
Leave a comment