Thunder Road

Last Saturday, I went to the lake despite weather reports of possible scattered showers. By "scattered showers" they meant, wear your cutest golashes because you're about to get soaked. By mile 4, we'd seen some lightning, but no rain. By the time I climbed Winstead, I was running in a downpour. Swiss Avenue was the worst. Imagine being in your shower fully dressed in your workout clothes while you attempt to run for 4 hours. At some point, I passed pretty Susan coming back from the Hall street turn around. "This is CRAZY. WE ARE CRAZY," I yelled.

I've run in the rain before, but never for four hours. I would never choose it, but I have to tell you that I felt like a total bad ass. 20 miles is pretty amazing, but 20 miles in the pouring rain is something you never forget.

Two a Day

Mile repeats are less fun than you think they would be. This morning, I managed to complete a few. After finishing the speed work, the schedule said to do a two mile cool down run, but *someone* overslept and didn't have time for everything. So, I forced myself to run twice today. I did the mile repeats in the morning and ran a few miles after work. I have had better ideas. This absolutely defeats the purpose of a cool down run. It was more like a punishment run that I gave myself for sleeping too late. Can you pick the nerdy rule follower in the crowd?

Speaking of punishment, this weekend I get another shot at 20 miles. I'm nervous. Mentally, I think I need a good long run under my belt. I'm still having flashbacks about that last attempt. I should concentrate on eating right, hydration etc... this week to see if it makes a difference. Actually, maybe I should just concentrate on getting to bed in time to run my six miles tomorrow...

Running on Empty

Part of me wants to tell you in excruciating detail about my 20.65 mile run on Saturday and part of me wants to never think of that run again. From the start, my legs were shot. Could be that I stayed up too late the night before. Could be that I didn’t eat right. Could be that I shouldn’t have run so many hills in Vail. Maybe it was the 1,000 percent humidity. On the other hand, it might just be that the running gods are plotting my ultimate demise one mile at a time. In any case, I didn’t have the mojo on Saturday. I wish I was just being my dramatic little self when I tell you that I nearly didn’t make the finish line. The last 3 or 4 miles on Saturday were sheer willpower. My legs gave up the fight long before my stubborn mind forced me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Tim and MK met me at a few of the water stops. I announced that I might die at Mile 18. MK tried to cheer me by saying “at least if you die there will be relief from the pain you’re in right now.” I was so far gone that the statement seemed oddly comforting.

While I was stretching after the run, Maggie came over for a pep talk. I kid you not that she tried to relate to me by telling a story of how hard it was for her to run at a 6 minute mile pace on a run in Colorado. Mantra to self: Maggie is not human, Maggie is not human, Maggie is not human...

Let’s hope that this run was just a fluke because I couldn’t have run 6 more miles for all the shoes at the new HP Louboutin store (well, okay ... maybe for that ...).

I Heart Oxygen

Last week, I ran in Vail. The plus was the gorgeous scenery (and my delightful companion). The minus was the altitude. One morning, I had to run 8 miles. I have never worked so hard just to survive a run. The wind was bitter cold, I was recovering from a night at the Red Lion, and there was a severe lack of oxygen in the air. You'll be happy to know that I managed to recover in time for day drinking at lunch.

Fun development in ATP this week? Mile repeats.

Tomorrow is 20 miles. I'll be trying out my rocking new compression socks. Stand by for excitement.