Long Run Report: 2 Women Wolfpack + 15 miles = HYFR

Friday morning I was soooooooo hype about Saturday's 15 miler. I think I'm so amped about pushing myself to see how far I can go if I set my mind to do it. Alarm went off Saturday at 430am.

I was out of the house with breakfast in hand by 5am and was in the vicinity to meet up with my group by 5:20 however, I was lost. My gps led me to one area of the trail but not at the beginning to meet up with my group. It was dark and damp and I was tired. At this point I called the BRF and realized I was roughly 4 miles away and tweaked her directions to get there. I was soooooooo over the 15miler at this point.

 I arrived at the group location around 5:45 when we were suppose to start at 5:30am. I turned my frown upside down once I met up with the ladies and took in the crisp cool air. Surprisingly it was cooler temps and perfect weather for a 15 miler! Here's what I learned after being on my feet for 2 hours and 32 minutes:

1) I can run without my knee brace. Last summer I was diagnosed with runner's knee after aggravating a prior injury by running a race when it wasn't fully recovered. Even though I have been strength training and have remained injury-free, I ALWAYS where my knee brace. I guess since I was running late and I was focused on getting started, I didn't remember to put on my brace. I realized I did not have it on somewhere between mile 2-3. Surprisingly, I felt confident that I didn't need it and decided to keep running. Strength training is definitely working magic on my knees. All the muscles around my knees are getting stronger and helping my kneecap stay in place. 

2) Mind over matter. I go into each run with purpose and goals. Lately, because I'm running distance I've never attempted, the goal is to just finish strong. When my feet begin to feel heavy at mile 13, I kept pushing and made a point to pick up the pace a little. My last mile split was 9:44. I succeeded. 

3) I no longer need music. I ran 15 miles with only music playing in my head. All I kept hearing was "oooooooooooooo sometimes I get a good feeling yeaaaaaaaah" or "hell yea hell yea hell yea I say fing right alright." 

4) Cliff bars and chews/gummies are not for me. Cliff bars require too much effort to chew and I could only eat half of a bar. I tried the chocolate chip bar and the flavor seemed off to me. The BRF had Honey Stinger cherry flavored gummies and offered me some. Glad I only took one because my stomach started to hurt right after I ate one. They tasted good but for whatever reason it didn't sit well with my stomach while running. Looks like Honey Stinger Waffles will be my snack of choice while running. 

5) Salty. I was very salty after this run. Salt all over my face and arms. I'm use to having salt on my face from sweat but when I was done Saturday I had salt all over my arms too. A veteran runner informed me that at mile 16 is when marathoners need to re-up on salt intake and fast or it all goes downhill from there. She suggested eating salt packets like the ones you find at a fast food restaurant *gag* or try a product called margarita Bloks. Bloks provide 3x the amount of sodium to ward off muscle cramps. We shall see when I run 17 miles in two weeks. 

6) My body will begin to hurt around mile 16. At mile 15 is when the creaks begin. My hamstring and hips were speaking to me saying "hey giiiiiirl. what's going on here?"

7) Eating breakfast is key. In the past I would eat a kashi breakfast bar and I would be starving by mile 6. Saturday I decided to try eating 1/2 of a whole grain english muffing with natural peanut butter. It did me justice. I never got hungry but made sure to eat something around mile 8-10. 

8) Therapy. I zone out while I run. I work through whatever issues I have been pondering all week and then I sync into my run. After my long runs I feel like I can take on the world. #runnershigh 

9) I ran 15.3 miles. I paused my watch while I waited for the BRF to fix her shoe and forgot to start it up until after we took off again. Once the BRF's watch hit 15 I decided to keep running so that my watch would record that I ran 15 so I ended up running over 15. YES it is that serious to me. Sad I know. 

10) So excited that next week is a light week. I never thought that I would say 13 miles would be a breeze till now.