I woke up this morning with absolutely no idea of how I
would feel and how it would go. I’ve done back-to-back long runs before, but
never three in a row, and never this long. So I wasn’t sure how I would feel
but I went after it, followed my morning routine and showed up at the
trailhead, ready for a good day.
First off, I need to thank my crew today. My Racelab
teammate Cassie was there when I got there and she didn’t leave until I was
done for the day. Another Racelabber, Bryan, showed up at about 8am and ran two
out of my five loops with me and kept me distracted and upbeat during the most
difficult part of the day. So I need to thank them profusely because I don’t
think today would have gone the way it did without their help.
The first 6-mile loop felt good. I didn’t take my
pre-planned route (took a wrong turn) and it ended up being a bit long, but
after having done 10-mile loops, I didn’t really care. It felt good to stretch
my legs out and the weather was perfect. Today I stuck to some much flatter
trails and didn’t go after any big climbs because I know that Thursday and
Friday might be considerably more challenging, so I figured I’ll just leave it
to those days. I finished the first loop feeling good and ready for another 4.
Usery Mountain Regional Park. It is beautiful out there!
The second loop was really good. I felt strong, opened it
up a bit and ran a couple sub-10 miles. The funny thing about how I was feeling
for loops 2-4 was that, although my legs ached and were tired, the thing that
slowed me down to a walk most often was my breathing. It’s almost as if my
breathing muscles (intercostals and diaphragm) were tired… I couldn’t really
pin it, but I think that’s what it was. Anyway, I focused on taking deep
breaths today and I think that really helped.
After loop 2, Bryan joined me and we went off again. The
great thing about running with Bryan is that he never runs out of things to
talk about so it really helped keep my mind off the pain and I was able to
focus on my breathing while not getting lost in thoughts of fatigue. We walked
quite a bit but it made the loop go by quickly and before we knew it, 18 miles
had gone by and I only had two more loops to go!
The Crew!! Thanks for being out there guys!
Loop 4 was good because we decided to do the loop
backwards. This shook it up a little, and made it different, which was good
from a mental perspective. The one thing I had worried about in doing more
loops was that it would get repetitive, but no two loops were alike today and
that variety was nice. We ran more during loop 3, but it was slow going and my
breathing was deep and controlled the whole way.
After loop 4, Bryan called it a day, but not before
helping Cassie fill my camelback and walking me a few hundred yards into the
final loop. These two seriously made my day. It was incredibly uplifting and
helpful to see their smiling, encouraging faces so much throughout the 7 hours
and 14 minutes I was out there. After refilling and resupplying, I was off to
do one last section. I decided to do an out-and-back for the last piece because
I had about 5.75 miles to go, instead of an even 6. So I took off with my slow
“ultra shuffle” and went after it. Within about a mile, something changed.
Suddenly my legs felt fresh and energetic. As long as I kept my breathing under
control, I didn’t feel tired. I couldn’t believe it and when I get mile 26 or
so, I pretty much took off. My miles progressively got faster and before I knew
it, I was at the turnaround point and started cruising back. My last two miles
were sub-10-minute miles and I surprised Cassie with how quickly I was back,
and DONE!
So today was a pleasant surprise. I honestly couldn’t
believe how good I felt in those last few miles. I thought that there had to
have been a flaw, or a trick. But that’s the way it was and I’ll take it!
Although I still had my struggles, I ended on a really positive note and it
definitely boosts my spirits going forward. I’m sure tomorrow could be a
totally different story, but who knows, I may feel stronger and stronger?
Either way, I’m excited for the next 4 days.
Tomorrow I will be at McDowell Mountain Regional Park,
starting at the Pemberton Loop Staging Area, bright and early, at 5:30am. I
will have people joining me again for shorter loops because of how well that
worked out today. Those trails are pretty tame so I’m hoping for another strong
day tomorrow, but whatever happens, I’m going to take it in stride and deal
with things as they come.
Thanks again to everyone who is following and supporting! Your daily encouragements go very far! 3 days and 90 miles down, 4 days and 120 miles to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment