Perservering through a "hard" run

On tap for today was a lovely 11 miler. For some reason this distance was intimidating me. I have run plenty of 10 milers, an 11 miler, a 12 miler and heck even a half marathon, but as I got ready to run this morning, I was nervous! Go figure!

Like any other long run day, I woke up and had a whole wheat bagel. While I waited for my food to digest a bit, I mapped out my run and had decided to try a new route to mix things up a bit. The forecast said 20 with NO wind and I thought 'heck that's better than 30 with wind'! So off I went!

The first 2 miles were blissful. The 9:30 pace felt easy, legs were loose and ready to go. I thought wow these next 9 miles are gonna be great! Then came mile 3. I turned onto another road and saw a steep hill up ahead. I am awful at hills, but I thought I was doing great, what's a hill gonna do? Well a hill caused me to start panting, which caused a bit of phlegm to get caught in my throat, which caused me to try hacking it up for the next mile. While hacking, I came to an intersection, saw where the sidewalk continued and went ahead, only to realize that I had taken the wrong turn.

Still hacking (and running), I started stressing about whether this run was actually going to happen and where the hell was I running to?? I decided to keep going until the sidewalk ended and turn around unless I knew where I was. Then, I looked down at my garmin and saw 2.93. How was this STILL mile 3? I look down again and realize my watch wasn't moving! I forgot to start it at the stoplight. Who knows how long I had been running! Felt like a mile but probably wasn't (turns out it was only .34 miles!!). Finally I hacked up the phlegm and was faced with another long hill.

Reaching the top of this hill I realized where I was, just a mile from home and I seriously considered turning back home, but decided to go the other way. Back into familiar territory, I relaxed a bit and the next 2 miles weren't too bad. I kept a 9:30 pace despite the long slow hill climb. Soon I got to where I was going to turn around originally and realized I could still do that since I was just over 6 miles and the spot I knew was 4.8 from home from previous runs, or so I thought! The climb back down the long slow hill was BRUTAL. I was going to stop for my clif shot at the DD at the bottom of it, and the wind was making sure that came slooowly! My face was ready to fall off from the cold and I needed to put my gloves back on.

Finally I got to DD, quickly took my clif shot (mmm vanilla - but not as good as vanilla hammer gel!) got some water and was off again. As soon as I started again my legs felt like bricks. I didn't know how I was going to make it through the next 3 miles. Speaking of 3 miles, I realized I was wrong. At the turnaround I was only 3.8 miles from home (not 4.8) and so I was 2 miles from home with 3 miles left! I spent the next mile deciding if I should turn back home or go another way and get that last mile in.

The wind was back in full force as I made my way up the last big hill on the way home. I kept going by "competing" with a little boy riding his bike on the other side of the road. lol I won that battle since the boy decided to walk his bike up the steeper part of the hill! When I got to a mile from home, something deep inside me said "It's just an extra mile, what's that when you just ran 7 hell miles?" Ok I thought, here I go!

Well, little did I know, the next mile's sidewalks were FULL of snow and ice. I was swerving all over the place trying to avoid it and slowing down to a crawl when I couldn't. Seriously people, why don't you shovel your sidewalks??? Anyways, I got through that mile and when I realized I only had one mile, I picked up the pace (as I usually do) and I realized that I had just pushed my body so far, and yet I still had speed and energy left in me. That made me speed up even more, and I finished my last mile at a respectable 8:49. Exactly my secret goal pace for my half marathon!

I was ecstatic. Still am really, almost 12 hours later. I can't believe that I made it through when all the odds were against me. It was at that point that I realized how dedicated I was to running. A year ago something like phlegm stuck in my throat would send me walking home, but now it's just another obstical to overcome.

Finishing this run means so much more than just crossing another training run off the list. It's about pushing through the pain, realizing that even when my mind is telling me that I should turn back, take a short cut or take a break, I CAN perservere.

I guess it's true: We're all stronger than we know.

Now PLEASE running gods, let me NOT have a "hard" run like this on race day!!!! lol :)

And with that, I'm off to bed!