My First 20 Mile Run

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This past Sunday was my first 20 mile run. It went very good, in fact better than I expected. It is not that I expected to Bonk or have too much difficulty, but I did expect to feel like walking more than I did.

It was an early morning for a Sunday morning when the alarm clock went off at 4:40. I needed to get out the door by 5:00 am if I was going to get the full 20 miles in before church. I started the morning with some water and a little bit of Gatorade and a piece of whole wheat bread. I prefer to eat a whole wheat bagel because it stays with me longer but there weren't any in the house.

Shortly after 5:00 I was out the door, water bottle in one hand, Gatorade in the other. I had one package of Sport Beans and tunes for the road. Have I ever told you that I hate carrying my hydration in my hands? I really need to look at other options but I just don't have the extra cash flow at this time........ just bought two new pair of shoes from Gerald AKA RaceSpeed over at www.telarun.com who always gives me a good deal and great advice (and doesn't even ask that I say anything on my blog about him) One pair for myself to replace my 400+ mile shoes, and the other for my daughter Payton to replace her 400+ mile shoes. Payton really needed the new shoes badly.... you should see how fast she runs!

OK..... I will get back on track now!

I started the run off at the pace I wanted to hovering right above the 10:00/mile pace. I wanted to make sure I could complete the entire run without any issues. I started to sip at the Gatorade about 2 miles in and then again every 1.5-2.0 miles until it was gone. I switched to the water at about mile 13 and shortly after ate the Sport Beans. I later in my run ran around a park so I was able to refill my water bottle so I was well hydrated the entire run.

I didn't really have any idea where I would get the entire 20 miles in, I only planned up till about 13 miles and then did the rest as I came to it. This is one of the beauties of running with my MyTach GPS watch. I do not know what I would do without it! It is so freeing to be able to run without having to think about where you are going or how far you have been. I just kept running until it said 20 miles. :)

There also is the downside to not planning out your route. I ended up having quite a few large hills in the last 6 miles of my run. These hills are not horrible, but hitting them when I did in my run made them that much more difficult.

I managed to keep running the entire 20 miles even though it became a mental battle at least one time in the last few miles. I even was able to drop the pace a bit for most of the second half of the run, ending with a better overall pace than my 18 miler just a couple weeks earlier. I ended just a short walk from home and was happy both to be home, and also to have just accomplished such a hugh milestone!

Just a couple weeks ago after accomplishing my first 18 mile run I had a little scare. Monday morning following the 18 mile Sunday I ran a bit harder and faster than I should have in my 4 mile recovery run. Later that same week following my 9 miler I ran a 4 miler, again much harder than I should have and started to feel some pain in my left Thigh. I took the next 3 days off and rested until my 12 miler on Sunday. Luckily the pain has not returned, but I did get a little nervous.

All is going really good with my marathon training. I am looking forward to my Second Half Marathon, The Atlanta 13.1 Marathon (funny name) in just a couple weeks on October 4th, and then my First Full Marathon, The Chickamauga Marathon, on November 14th.

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow - virtual4now