Twenty-eight has been attempted and finished. It wasn't pretty and it sure as heck wasn't fast, but the goal was to log the distance and consider it done.
I could tell my legs were still feeling the Marathon PR two weeks ago, but they needed to pull it together and concentrate. Around 16 my legs just felt really heavy and I wasn't planning on attemoting this "28-mile training run" again any time soon, so it meant just keep plugging along one mile at a time.
At 19, a pain in the ball of my left foot started grabbing my attention and was a result of running in unsatisfactory shoes at the marathon (link). After about 22, I stopped getting a full rotation in my left ankle because the bottom of my foot was so tender, so I just slowed it down, mixed in some more walking and kept moving. That was the huge surprise for me. I never really stopped (outside of water refill spots). The only way it was going to end was 28 miles from the starting point and all I had to do was get there.
In short words: I wouldn't have been able to finish it without our running group. We had some running 16, 22, one doing 26 and two doing 28. By the end, there were 4 of us running together. We also had a friend on a bike kind enough to supply water and snacks along the way. (Life Saver!) Plus, he got off the bike and ran the last .8 with me. I never would have been able to get 28 without all of them.
One tough thing was focusing on 28 instead of 26.2. I didn't want to mentally check out once I got to the marathon distance so I kept my goals simple: Get to 25.5. OK. Now get to 26. And so on by half miles. At the end I was spent and my friends let me know. Haha. I'll have more to share later, but one pavement runner was out of it after 5 hrs. and 41 mins. of running and 3875 calories lighter.
Post-run I headed to Ocean Beach and went waist deep in the icy-cold San Francisco water. I think my legs were already numb to begin with, but this helped seal the deal. Joking aside, it has helped aide my recovery and my legs feel incredibly good all things considered.
This week I'll be posting some additional recovery tips. They make all the difference in getting you back out there.
3 comments:
Yikes that's a very long run... u should have been in a race : )
PS
I've never run that far.
CONGRATS you completed 28! You did it! It was hard but you accomplished your goal...with a little help and support of your running friends. Just remember in the future to "pass it forward" when they need it.
Keep us posted.
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