the ultimate betrayal

With week 4 having been less than perfect for me, I was looking for some redemption in my running with my long run this morning. The weather was practically perfect (starting out around 60 degrees with a nice breeze).

On my schedule was 15 miles, so the idea was to do an out and back to force me to get my mileage in. I felt pretty good for the first 7.5 miles then it was time to turn around... I think it was all mental, but then it seemed like a daunting task to run back to where I had started... I stretched and took in some sport drink and started back. It was about a mile into my run that I was passed by a runner who I would have guessed to be Kenyan, but I later found out it was just a guy who runs and has never run a marathon... that probably made me feel even slower... another mile down the road I take another break and drink a little more and push on a little further. With 4 miles to go, my body was giving up. It did not want to do anything with running and it was becoming such an effort to maintain any sort of forward momentum. I pushed for 2 more miles and then I had to stop and stretch. It took every ounce of strength I had to get going again only to see a bench about a 1/4 mile later that called my name. I stopped, sat down and massaged my aching muscles for about a minute then I pushed on to then end.

My body had betrayed me today, but in all fairness I think it was my fault. I didn't have much of a dinner last night and I never have much for breakfast before I run, so it had no fuel to keep me going. I felt like I had run a full marathon when I was done - and it got me thinking about my ability to train for a fall marathon... I think the good thing is it is still early in the schedule and I believe I have time to make this work... another tough week coming up...

On another note, my friend Brooke will be running the US Half Marathon in Copper, Colorado tomorrow. Looking forward to hearing all about it. Check her blog next week for a race report... Until then, Happy Running to all.