I graduated from Charlotte Christian in 2000, which means I've come upon my ten-year reunion. I had planned to attend the reunion breakfast at the school and then do my long run all over campus and the Boyce/McAlpine trails behind the school. The plan called for 16 miles, which would be my longest run ever.
First of all, I didn't plan very well for this run. I was going to run at 6am and then just hope the breakfast would be plentiful and good, but I slept in, meaning I would have to eat but wouldn't be able to eat too much. They gave us some bagels, fruit, and juice and talked about what all was going on in the school these days. The main gig for the reunion would be the Saturday night dinner, but being that I was in charge of ours I felt obligated to attend the breakfast as well.
I didn't have much on the stomach and it was about 11:00 a.m. by the time I set out to do my 16. I ran around campus and up Sardis Road for a bit before hopping on the trails at Boyce Park. I wanted to run from there to Harris Boulevard and back, then take on some water and possibly another bagel before I finished the run. I felt pretty good as I had logged roughly 10 miles at better than 8:00 pace before I made it back to the car, but the way I destroyed the bagel and water told me that maybe I was a little undernourished.
With about 6 miles left, I jogged down the road and hopped back on the greenway at the Sardis/Old Bell entrance. There were a lot of runners out, which usually got me pretty fired up. I was still feeling great as I headed toward McAlpine Park and even entertained ideas of dropping the pace down a few notches at the end. Then, with a little over two to go, it hit me. I felt like my body somehow realized it had never been this far before - ever - and it started breaking down. I hunched over a little bit, started breathing heavier, lost control of my arms in stride somewhat - I even stumbled off the path at one point and almost fell down. I made my way back to the Old Bell lot and panicked when I remembered my car wasn't there. I would have to run uphill on Sardis to get back to it. Off in the distance I saw what looked like a cute figure with a ponytail waving back-and-forth, so I tried to speed up. Who was this girl? Was she even there, or was I now hallucinating? Maybe she would have water!! When I finally caught the girl, she was not, in fact, waiting for me with open arms and a platter of Gatorade. In fact, she was probably comtemplating whether or not to call a medic when I huffed-and-puffed my way past her.
I got halfway up the hill and into the CCS parking lot and just stopped. I couldn't move anymore. I had finished my 16 - barely - but this run was a reality check that I needed to stop being proud of myself for getting back in shape and start taking this seriously again. I also decided that I was going to start taking some form of power gel and some water in the middle of my long runs. I can't eat much right before I run, of course, but I figured a good-sized meal the night before a long run, even late at night, would be in order as well.
I have built up from 8 to 10 to 12 to 14 (did that twice) to 16 miles for my long runs and seem to breaking a barrier every time. When I get past the point that was previously my longest run, I start to tighten up, but it was much worse today. Oh well, this run will soon be a distant memory as I have 18 on the schedule a week away.
Hopefully it will go much better than this one!
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