20 Miles!

Shane said he is supposed to run two 20 milers as part of his marathon training. I guess I should at least run one 20 miler. Todd called me Saturday trying to motivate me to running my 20 miler (at least no less than 18). The two of them had me "wanting" to run the 20 miles. I have been wanting to run 20 miles just so I could say I did it. Wanting it and doing it are two different things. I wanted to do it, but didn't want to do it. How could I do it without stopping? I don't mean stopping to walk, but to just quit and go home. I decided I would have my wife drive me 20 miles away from home and drop me off. I would have to at least walk home.

My most recent long run was a 15 miler 3 weeks ago. During the last 2 months, I've ran two half marathons, a 15 miler, and a 13 miler. I should have ran some 16 and 18's, but I've only ran once in the last week (an 8 miler) and it has been 19 days since I have ran in double digits. How am I to get to 20 from 15 a few weeks ago? The last time I did more than 15 was the marathon in April. Before that, I had not been over 15 miles since March 2010. The reason I say this is because, as my wife was driving farther and farther away from home, the more doubtful I became. I was hoping Shane would be working at his farm in case I needed to be rescued, but he wasn't. It was just to be me and the road. Sherri was heading to babysit Lainey, and was to drop me off 20 miles from home. As all that pavement rolled under or tires, I got more nervous. I had her to stop 15 miles from home. This was just across the Gus Norfleet bridge. So, there I stood - all alone. Then I began running.

The sun tried to break through a few times, but never for more than 10 seconds at a time until around Mile 9. It stayed for about 3 miles, and then it got cloudy for good. It was 78 degrees when I started and 70 when I got back home. The wind made it feel much cooler. I had seen on the news this morning that wind gusts would be between 20-30 mph. Those long gusts made me feel cold. It was also difficult running directly into it. (One time, while I was running with the wind, I could swear that when both of my feet where off the ground that the wind carried me ahead an extra step.)

My times per mile were all over the place. Mile 1 was 9:23. I beat that twice with Miles 6 and 9 - both were 9:21. Mile 4 was 11:22, mainly because I had a long way to go and thought it better if I walked up the hill it included. After 5 miles, my pace was 10:08. After 10 miles, my pace was 9:59, with 5 miles in the 9:00's, 4 in the 10:00's, and the one 11:00+. During Mile 11, I thought the end was coming as I slowed to 12:37. I was able to pick up the pace for Miles 12 and 13 for paces of 10:04 and 10:00. When I reached Hilltop, I decided not to run down the hill towards the Dollar Store, leaving about 3 miles to home. I turned right and headed toward the convenience center (dump). I was trying to calculate the more familiar areas into getting the extra 5 miles I needed. That right was dead into the wind. From the dump, I ran onto Highway 13/48 towards Montgomery Central. I got on to Salem Ridge Road from there. Somewhere during these areas, I had 2 of my 3 slowest times, Mile 14 at 13:00 and 15 at 13:30. Mile 16 was at 12:08. Then I seemed to find my second wind. Plus, I was getting close to home. Mile 17 was 9:55, and Mile 18 at 9:45. Those 2 miles were too much. Mile 19 was my second slowest at 13:05. I reached home before hitting Mile 20, so I ran back-and-forth in front of the house until I heard the watch beep of relief. I tried to finish strong, and I really thought it was faster than it actually was - Mile 20 was in 12:26.

My total time was 3:36:21, a pace of 10:49. I think I would have enjoyed - can't believe I said that - this run if it wasn't for the wind. At least now, I can say I ran 20 miles, even though I did some walking. I walked so much in the marathon, it's not really true to say I "ran" a marathon. After 20 miles during the marathon, my pace was 11:55. I finished with 13:43.