Si se puede! Si se puede!

This week's long run was 21 miles.  I did my 5 miles and 8 miles with no issue, except boredom.  We started carbing up on Thursday.  I kept looking at the weather, and the predicted humidity was going up each time I checked.  I got more and more nervous.  Our dogs were all sick, so there was that stress too.

Friday, I tried hard to devise a plan.  I decided I would take 7 hours to run. Which meant that I would be running in weather from 68 to 83 degrees.  RH would be 93%.  What lovely conditions.  I was stressed out.  How would I do this?  Not only mentally but physically.  I had shown my coworker, M, the damage across my stomach from my 8 mile run.  The waist band of my shorts had rubbed my stomach raw.  My arm rubbed on my bra to the point of rawness.  It was bad.  How was I going to prevent that?  I was pretty sure this run was going to be a fail.  I told M that.  She speaks Spanish, and came over and did this little dance.  She told me to imagine her at every stop, yelling, "Si se puede!  Si se puede!"  She told me to imagine her holding the Mexican Flag.  She was like, "Basically, imagine me showing up to the wrong rally to cheer you on."  The ridiculousness of that cracked me up.

D and I met our friend R later on Friday for drinks and to sell him our GT tickets, since we would be unable to go.  Then we went and got pizza. When returning home, I got my food ready, looked at my Camelbak, got money ready for that, and put everything together on the counter, including the Gatorade that was supposed to go in the fridge.  Then I went to bed.

Saturday morning came, and D saw the Gatorade on the counter around the same time I thought about the fact I didn't recall putting it in the fridge.  For once, I didn't freak out.  D told me there was plenty of Orange flavor cold, and if that wasn't ok, we could stop and get some. I told him the orange was good, and thanks for letting me use it.  We continued getting ready.  The weatherman kept telling us what a gorgeous October day it was.  If 85 and 90% humidity is an awesome day according to him, I want to smoke what he's smoking.  He also assured no one would get wet with the few storms pending (ask GT how that went with the rain delay that required the fans to EVACUATE the stadium).  I ate 1 Clif Bar and 2 bottles of water at home.  On the way to Silver Comet, I drank most of another bottle of water and ate another Clif Bar.

So D and I got to the Silver Comet just as the sky opened up.  We and every other person in the parking lot just sat in their cars.  I posted this on Facebook and M sent back, "Si se puede! Si se puede!"  Finally after about 10 minutes, it let up and I told D I was going.  He said he was too, so we got on our fuel and off we went.

I focused on not looking at my watch.  Don't worry about it, Al!  I pretty much did fine.  The one thing I did notice, was I was not drinking my gatorade very much because I was afraid I would run out.  At Mile 8 I started thinking negatively.  I kept saying, "Si se puede."  I passed D who was returning.  I wanted to return.  "Si se puede."  I kind of had to go to the bathroom.  I remember my friend L told me to just look around and notice things.  At Mile 9.15, I saw a building in a SC parking lot.  However the bathrooms were closed, but the water fountain worked.  I drank a lot.  It felt good.  I had been eating every 2 miles.  But water tasted so much better.  So I continued on my way.  My foot started to hurt.  I decided to walk.  I had also passed the turnoff to McDonald's.  I started running 3 minutes, walking 2 (I had been doing 9 running, 1 walking) and finally got to 10.5 miles and turned around.  "Awesome job, Al.  Furthest on the SC in this training period.  That deserves a "Way to go!" And you are out of Miles 9-10."

I decided I would go to McDonald's and get some Powerade. Should I call D there too?  Si se puede!  What if McDonald's didn't have Powerade?  Would that do me in?  Was there a convenience store there? I could just get water at the fountain.  Most of this was done while walking.  I decided to walk to the Mile 9.15 marker (the marker I just passed).  I got there, and decided not to turn to McDonald's but go get more water.  I drank a lot and then decided to go to the 8.5 mile marker (where my friend picked me up last time on the trail).  This was a combo of walking and running.  I noticed my foot really hurt and my knee burned.  I had still been talking myself out of calling anyone at the Mile Marker, but knew I had to stop.  I remembered what I told D.  Stop if I need to and fix what is wrong, and then keep moving.  I stopped at the bench and got my Body Glide out.  I took my shoe off and covered my foot in BG.  Got the shoe back on.  Applied BG under my knee brace on the part that bugged me.  Put it back in the Camelbak.  Debated on the eating my Clif Bar.  I wasn't feeling good (vomit-y).  I didn't want to eat anything.  My bag had a lot of Gatorade, so I decided I would see where I was at Mile 17.  I got up and went on.

Body Glide Break

I continued walking more than running, but I also noticed my shoulder really hurt.  It hurt more when walking.  I took my Camelbak off.  Still hurt.  Camelbak back on.  I restarted the 3-2 thing.  Si se puede!  Miles 4-8 have a lot of roads you have to cross, so on the way back , it cut up the run.  I was pretty sure my time was all over the place.  I did notice I ran 12 miles faster than my slowest, but my 13 was too slow for my liking. I decided I would call D at 17.  I mean, 17 miles is not bad.  But my legs felt fine.  So maybe I should just tell him I have 4 left.  2 women training for a full passed me.  Their legs looked bad. Their form looked bad.  I was walking and decided to walk to 17 miles.  Their form made me think with my shoulder, I would really hurt it.  Finally I had to stop and get out some Advil at Mile Marker 5.3.  The 2 women were there stretching, but were pained.  I would have offered them Advil, but I had no more.  And then strapped the Camelbak back on, and walked.  Si se puede!  Si se puede!

I ran a little during Miles 14 and 15, but by Mile 16 I was done.  So I walked to Mile 17.  Finally I was back at the Bike Depot.  I went and got more water.  I still had plenty of Gatorade.  I sat on a bench and let D know where I was.  I just rested.  I talked to some guy for awhile.  4 women told me I needed to finish.  I had some more Waffle Cookie, but I still didn't feel well.

The sky turned black and the women told me I needed to go, or call someone.  But I needed to get the 4 miles done quick if I was going to do it.  So I strapped the Camelbak on once again.  The 2 runners came in and called someone. I actually only had 3.88 to go (but who was counting).  I crossed the street and resumed running.  4 minutes on 1 off. The tunnel at Mile 3 got there quickly.  Only 3 left.  That's 12 laps around a track.  Let's focus on the next .25.  Keep going.  10 laps, 9 laps.  I got to the bridge I hate.  Keep going.  Si se puede! Si se puede.  Was that the last bridge?  8 laps. The rain that started coming down was ice cold. It felt awesome.

2 bikers yelled, "You got this."  7 laps.  6 laps.  I'm just going to walk to that bridge.  Oh it's uphill after that bridge.  5 laps.  Why are you walking? I like walking.  4 laps.  A little running.  More walking.  3 laps, 2 laps.  OK, 10 minutes or 8 minutes?  You can run.  Just run.  Finish out with a run.  1 lap.  "You are going to do this!"  20.96.  Come on.  Keep moving.  21.00!  My arms went up in the air.  A biker said, "Congrats"  although I'm sure he didn't know why I was cheering, since I was still on the path.  But I was done.  Yes, I had to get back to D and the car and Mile 0 but I was done.  I sucked down the rest of the Gatorade.  I was done.  I saw D and told him I finished.  He gave me a hug.

Then we went and got water and diet coke.

Si se puede!  Si se puede!