13 Smooth Movin Miles

Saturday I completed a long 13 miler. I will be real honest here and tell ya that I was dreading this run all week. My long runs have been such a struggle lately and I've been trying my best to hammer out whatever factors are creating it and perhaps I've somewhat figured it out.

It was breezy and near 70 degrees when I started out on Saturday. The clouds were looming above and the sunshine was poking through. It was perfect running weather at the start of my run.

The first 5 miles blew right by. Mile 6 I needed a little bit of water but kept on trucking after. I took my GU at about mile 8 when I started to feel the energy slipping and it really seemed to help. It wasn't until about mile 12 that I had any sort of issue. I ran out of water around mile 11 (I need to upgrade my hydration belt to include more bottles!). Around mile 12, my stomach started to hurt. I took out my ear buds to my Ipod so that I could focus on my run a little more. I've found that if I can hear my feet on the ground it really allows me to focus more on my form and the way that my body moves and I usually get a 2nd wind. The 2nd wind lasted for maybe half a mile. The last half mile I was running to various landmarks and then walking, then running to the next landmark. At least I was still running though. It also started to warm up a bit by that last mile and I guess my face was burning (didn't realize til I got back). Anyways, overall it was a really good run.

Oh and another BIG announcement. I'm probably going to be running the Kansas City Marathon Relay just a few weeks after the Twin Cities Marathon. I've somehow convinced my dad and some uncles and cousins to join in the fun. My uncle has run quite a few marathons and now races in triathlons so I think we've got a good team. Not sure what leg I will be taking, but I'm kind of hoping for one of the medium length ones as I will be in recovery from TCM.