For reals

I for real, for real ran 18miles this Sat and it was…pretty awful. The majority of the run was pretty nice. It was a gorgeous day and, despite heading out kind of late (12:50pm) I was ready to run the day away. Again I didn't carry water, because I HATE IT. I need to figure out a method, be it the water fanny pack or handheld bottle, to carry some liquids. Instead I brought some cash knowing there was a grocery store at the ~5mi mark where I could stop for a drink and to hit the potty.

My first 5 miles really flew by. It was nice and by the time I saw the market ahead of me I wasn't necessarily ready for a pit stop. BUT knowing there were no potties ahead for many miles and knowing how much better I felt after stopping last week, I pulled over.

What happened next may be the proudest moment in my athletic life: There was a Halloween Extravaganza in the parking lot of the market where there were all sorts of yummy foods samples and **FREE CUPCAKE ROYALE CUPCAKES TO DECORATE WITH CANDY** and I DID NOT INDULGE! I am sort of sad about missing cupcakes now but I was proud of myself at the time.

I zipped into the store, got some water, used a CLEAN bathroom with FLUSHING toilets and SOAP AND HOT WATER (these are caps too since the joy of using a clean bathroom instead of a Porta-Potty was as delightful as cupcakes).

 

After this small diversion I was back on the road. The last few miles were pretty rough. My legs were hurting and I really just wanted to get home.

 

Once there I was in more pain than I have experienced post run; I iced and (semi)stretched and tried to recoup. For the first time ever the first thing I ate did not sit well with me. It was touch and go for a minute there. Touch and go.

But I survived, and really felt fine the rest of the evening. Still feel great today.

Bummed that my time for that 18 miles was 3:20 (11min miles on avg). I'm glad that I figured out my runs were shorter than I was counting but it was sort of a let down to not feel as good after the true 18miler as I did after last week's 18(actually 16-17).

 

Ah well, at least 18 is in the books for real. For real, for real!