project262.com | Marathon Training for Patrick O'Brien

June 4, 2005, 8:30am: The Most Difficult Run Yet

GOAL: 12 miles

LOCATION: Katy Trail, Green Bottoms Road, St. Peters, Missouri

CONDITIONS: 72°- 86°, hot, sticky and humid

RESULTS: 12.6 miles
TIME: 2:25:40

PACE: 11:33/mile

TOTAL TRAINING MILES TO DATE (walking & running): 211 miles

The Alarm
So, here's my typical Saturday morning...alarm goes off around 6:10am. I hit the snooze a couple times. Finally around 6:30am, I roll out of bed. My cats are usually cozied up on the pilllows, so it makes it even more difficult to get out of bed. I wonder why I decided to give up my Saturday morning sleep-ins for the next 4 months as I go to the fridge and grab a bottled water. Then, I pop in a piece of bread in the toaster and get my water bottles ready for the run. I usually mix Gatorade and water 50/50, that way the Gatorade is not too concentrated. It tastes kinda nasty when you're not running, but it's good when you need it on the trail. Once I eat my toast and drink some, I head back into the bedroom, where I hit the radio and listen to Ryan Seacrest doing his American Top 40 thing on Z107.7. I actually like his show because it's the only time Z plays actual Top 40 music. I'm tired of censored rap music...really. 50-Cent can just go away for a while...his music doesn't make any sense when it's all bleeped out. Anyway, I splash some cold water on my face and brush my teeth. I don't shower, because I wait until after the run. Then, I put on deodorant, rub on some Bodyglide (to prevent chafing), and find my running gear. Right about then, Ryan Seacrest is already annoying me with his pointless chatter and I just hope for some good music...I head over to my computer and check the weather radars to see if it's going to rain or not. Today it looked like it would, but it didn't. I print out my directions and notes from Coach Rich (he usually e-mails them out on the Thursday before the run). I pop in my contacts, put on my shoes, grab my water bottles (and sometimes a banana) and get out.

The Drive
I hit the road with my Sirius Satellite Radio in full force. I usually listen to some dance remixes on the way to the run. It pumps me up. As always, other drivers speeding and running stop signs annoying the hell out of me, and I get mad at them every time. I usually make it to my destination on time by 8:00am, if I don't get lost. Today, I was a little lost because I had never been on the new Page Avenue extension to St. Charles. So, I arrived about 10 minutes late. But other runners got lost, too, and we didn't start running until 8:30.

The Run
Well, the 12-miler today (actually 12.6 miles) was an out-and-back, which means 6 miles out, turn around, and 6 miles back. It was on the Katy Trail, and the entire path was a gravel road that ran parallel to the Missouri River in most places. Coach Rich set up a water station at Mile 2 (which was also Mile 10 on the way back). I didn't stop there on the first time passing it. I was running at a pretty good pace, and things went very smoothly for the first half. I was even waving to other bikers/runners along the trail. It was like a little motivation for me. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about the run. I hadn't stopped to walk the entire 6 miles, except for a moment when a rock got caught in my shoe and I had to get it before it got lodged underneath my foot. I was even thinking I could run the entire 12 miles non-stop.

When I approached Mile Marker 52 (which was the turning around point), I was really in my groove. I downed an amazing GU. This flavor was called "Espresso Love", and it has twice the caffeine! It tasted like a shot of coffee! It was my favorite so far! WOW! At this point I only used half my water bottles. I wasn't too worried about water, because I knew I would fill up at the water station on the way back, which was only 4 miles away at this point. Let me tell you, the next 4 miles were hell...

Coach Rich was running with Jessica not too far behind me, so when I started coming back, we crossed paths, but he decided to turn around and run with me for a bit. We talked a little bit about the Chicago Marathon, keeping motivated and gave me ideas on getting a decent runner's cap. My Hard Rock hat was soaked! And it's cotton, so it was keeping the heat in when I was wearing it. I took it off and wiped the soaking wet hat on my face, because my own sweat felt good. It was starting to heat up pretty quickly. The sun was beaming, and there was no breeze at all. I was getting chills a lot, because we were running in and out of shady areas. A couple times, my chills were lasting for a couple minutes, which had me worried. Since I was with Coach Rich, I decided to take some walk breaks. We took a couple of them, and I'm glad I did. I downed my other two water bottles pretty quickly and was feeling a little dizzy. The heat just overcame me quickly, and I was out of water before we got to the water station. I think the GU had set in for a little while, and it helped me through Mile 8 and 9. I was so happy to see that water station at Mile 10! I filled 2 of my water bottles, and used the third one for splashing my face and drinking. Coach Rich had filled up, too, but he was going to go back to the other runners and give them some water incase they needed it. He let me finish alone. I was really exhausted. I started running again, but had to walk after about 5 minutes. I had drank too much water too fast, and I could feel it jiggling in my stomach. I was pooped. I ran out of energy. I walked for about a half-mile, just completely exhausted, hot and starting to burn in the sun. At this point, there were no more shady trees. From here to the end, it was all open air. And on top of that, some of the bicyclists were kicking up dust from the gravel trail, and it was getting in my eyes and I was feeling sticky. It was getting so hot and muggy (since we were by the river). After walking, I decided to take another whack at running to the end. I started, and again drank some more water. I was down to about a half-bottle. After about 5 minutes, again I had to go back to walking. I drank the rest of my water, thinking I was only about a half-mile to the end. Then, I tried running again, hoping to get to the end soon. I approached one of the mile markers, and it said Mile 47, which meant I still had about 1.3 miles left. I thought I was almost finished! So I yelled, "MILE 47? WHAT THE HELL!?!?" and other expletives, I just broke down and walked. I was out of water with over a mile still. I walked for about a half-mile. Then, I was getting thirsty bad again, and the only way I was getting water was at the finish line, so I ran to the end. Completely exhausted.

The Finish
When I got to the Joints in Motion tent, Shelly gave me a towel, and I got it wet with ice-cold water, and drenched my face with it. I took down an ice-cold bottled water pretty quickly and some Gatorade. I can't believe I drank 7 bottles of water during the run. I just walked around the tent, continuously wetting my towel and cooling off. I couldn't even eat a banana or bagel for about 30 minutes. Finally I had a bagel for the road. My thermometer in my car read 86° when I got in. I hit the AC and drove home in a daze, just glad it's over. I went home and did 19 different stretches that are suggested in my non-runner's marathon book.

Checking My Weight
After my long shower, I weighed myself, and I dropped a couple more pounds, down to 223 now. I also measured my body with MyoTape (a flexible measuring tape). I measured my neck, bicep, forearm, chest, waist, hips, thigh, and calf. I shrank in my neck, forearm, hips and thigh since I last measured on the first week of training. The others measurements stayed the same. Now, I gotta just watch my fat intake, and I think I'm on the right track. I took a nap later in the day, and my knees have been hurting. I'm glad I had nothing else going on today, so I could relax.

THOUGHTS: The heat made a big BIG difference today. I think I'm going to start at 7:00am from now on. Other runners did today, and I think this would have been a totally different run if I started then, not at 8:30.

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