Week 4 Long Run.......DONE!!

Although my body was screaming "don't do it," my mind was saying "no chance in hell you are skipping the long run." My mind won! Now that it is over, I am very glad I did it. Last night I was really debating on whether to run at home, gym or outside. I just thought the idea of doing 11 miles on the T-mill sounded painful. I opted for the outside run. It was a tough decision considering I hate to be cold. Remember I was the crazy person outside running on the summer days when it felt like 112 degrees. I love the heat. Hate the cold. Having said that I wasn't at all bothered by the temperature today. I guess I don't mind it so much when running. Actually I started out with 2 pairs of pants (looking and feeling somewhat like the marshmallow woman) and actually shed the first layer after the 3rd mile. I went back and forth with gloves on, then gloves off...repeat over and over. Instead of dripping sweat I was dripping snot. Not a bad trade off.

I ran my new loop 6 times (plus a little to make it exactly 11 miles). It is just a longer version of my old one mile loop. I don't run either loop b/c I am stalking anyone. I simply love my loop and refuse to change more than I already did. I actually love my longer loop better b/c since I have fewer laps it goes faster. Also I enjoy running past the street named Road Runner twice each lap. For some dumb reason it motivates me. The run started off good. I started to feel my back some around mile 4. It was nothing horrible (the bad back pain starts now that I am done), I just felt it on one part of the run when I lean to the left. I stopped briefly after the 3rd lap (5.38 miles) and got a drink and had some powerbar bites. I really was doing fine until the start of mile 10. That is when my body was angry with me. It wasn't my back and it wasn't my hip, but it was my left knee. Always something right? I think it was IT bandish pain.. maybe?? I don't know but it was there getting worse until about the last .5 miles when I tried hard to convince myself it was gone. Still I was determined to finish. It actually feels fine now that I am sitting but I haven't really been up walking on it yet. I am sure it will be fine by tomorrow. Either that or my hip and back pain will just overshadow it making it nonexistent. When the run was done I started this horrible coughing fit on my drive home. I thought for a moment that I was going to vomit in my car. I didn't. I am happy this long run is over. I look forward to the 12 I have to do next week. I will enjoy that more on a day that I am not about to be on call.

Here are my splits from today:   Overall average pace for 11 miles: 8:14
Mile 1: 8:22
Mile 2: 8:21
Mile 3: 8:23
Mile 4: 8:17
Mile 5 8:21
Mile 6: 8:08
Mile 7: 8:17
Mile 8: 8:06
Mile 9: 8:15
Mile 10: 8:05
Mile 11: 8:01

So there you have it. Only 14 more weeks to go until my biggest running goal of the year.
I hope everyone has a very happy weekend!