For all my friends who have to train in the winter

I knew I wanted to get a long run in sometime last week but I kind of kept coming up with excuses. My knees had started pinching again, it was cold outside, it had snowed, I needed to clean house, etc.  Well Friday I had planned to either go shopping or run. I was actually considering both but figured I should get a long run in since that would probably take me longer.

Yes, it was still cold out, but I bundled up in my fleece leggings, my long sleeve tech shirt from RnR Las Vegas and my Under Armour windbreaker over top, just in case it started to precipitate in anyway. I didn’t want to get caught being soaked like I did last Tuesday. Oh, and I should mention that I put that Marathon cream that my sister got at the Las Vegas expo on my knees before I went outside. Boy oh boy, that stuff certainly throws some heat on your legs. That was a good thing to put on before going out in the cold.

Okay, let’s get to the running part. The trail I run on is a mix of paved and unpaved roads.  It had snowed 2 days before and I wondered if any of the trail would be cleared or plowed. I started out on a paved part and it was not plowed but looked as if there was a path created for runners and bikers.  After I went a little ways I noticed that the cleared path was not a constant.   I did pass a runner coming in the opposite direction and that gave me hope that there were more cleared spots ahead.

This is what the majority of the trail looked like on my run on Friday.

 I found out that was not the case. I ran when I could and when the snow was too deep I took some walk breaks. By mile 6 the back of my knees started pinching. Apparently the marathon cream had worn off.

At about mile 8 I finally got to try my Salted Carmel GU that I have been carrying around with me on all my long runs but never used. It was amazing and tasted like real caramels. It didn’t taste like a GU at all. I never take a full GU at one time (I usually save some for later), but this time I squeezed till I got every last drop!  I then immediately felt as if I had to go to the bathroom. I knew there was a public park about 2 miles ahead and planned to make a pit stop there.  By the time I got to the restrooms, I decided I could wait a bit more and stop on the way back. Well by the time I ran back past the restroom, I didn’t feel the need to stop at all which was good. What was not good is that a mile after I already passed the restrooms, I felt the need to go. I knew there was a Sheetz a mile ahead so that was my only. Get to Sheetz!  I literally ran into Sheetz with my earbuds still in and my Under Armour face hood on (So glad it was not a black one or I probably would have scared some people).  I got to the restroom and I seriously had to wait in line. NO!

Okay, so I was feeling better after leaving Sheetz and ready to tackle the last 10 or so miles. At mile 15 I decided to eat my Ginger Snap Honey Stinger Waffle.  I was so disappointed when I pulled it out and it was frozen. It was seriously like eating peanut brittle. At this point I was tired of dodging the snow so I would just run through some of it. I actually noticed that running on the snow made the pinching pain in my knees feel a little better. At round mile 16 I noticed that I lost one of my new touch screen gloves (see I told you that would happen). It must have fallen out of my pocket when I pulled my waffle out. I turned around to see if I could see the bright pink glove lying in the snow anywhere but didn’t see it so I just kept running. I didn’t bother going back to look for it. For $3, I could buy another pair!

 

 At mile 17 this little guy ran with me for about 3 tenths of a mile. He had fast little legs and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that he was going to bite me in the ankles. His brother, a Yellow Labrador, was a good dog and stayed in the yard!  

I started getting the “Low battery” message on my Garmin and worried that it was going to shut off before I completed my run so at this point I kept taking pictures of my Garmin at every mile, just in case.  When I hit the 20 mile mark, I decided to “Save” my run on the Garmin so I would at least have data for that far. I just ran 20 miles! I couldn’t believe it. My longest run up till now had only been 15. I felt like I had made a break through in my running!  After I saved my 20 mile run, I started the Garmin back up to see if it had enough battery to record the rest of my run. I got about one tenth of a mile in and the Garmin shut off just as I had predicted. I am so glad that I saved it at 20 miles because it was SO close to shutting off on me.  I was planning on doing 22 miles, but at this point it was getting dark so I decided to turn around and start walking back to my car. I figured I did 20 miles, I’m good.  I started walking for a few seconds and thought “What am I doing?” I came to do 22 miles. I’m gonna finish it!  I turned around and did the last mile up and then the other mile back to my car. 22 miles done!  Under normal circumstances I may not have done those last two miles but at this point I knew Scott was in the parking lot waiting for me so I felt comfortable knowing that he was near. He had stopped to meet me on his way home from work and I am so grateful for that. 

After my run I immediately called my sister to tell her how many miles I did! It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I think maybe it was because I wasn’t running at a race pace. I was a little achy later that night but I soaked in a Epsom salt bath and surprisingly I felt okay the next day. I tried to follow the Galloway Goofy training plan as closely as I could but I admit I fell behind somewhere in November.  I’m gonna say that this will be my longest run before marathon day and I’m okay with that.   -M

How is your training doing? Do you remember the first time you ran your longest training run? What was it like?