Only 9 out of 11 Miles

I headed out to run 11 miles this morning. I was ready! I had new shoes on, new socks, new sports bra, new running shorts and felt confident that I could do it. I had mapped my run out on mapmyrun.com and knew exactly where I was going. I had my oatmeal, with 1/2 a banana. I had 2 jolly ranchers and $2 in my pocket to stop and buy some water around 5-6 miles. I was good to go!

I set out ~7:15 a.m. and it was already 83 degrees. Usually I would not think that was hot, but it sure was not cool. Also, it was so ridiculously humid that my shirt was literally dripping sweat just 1/2 way into the run. I ran my route opposite of what I usually would have, thinking I would avoid some monster hills. No such luck. Instead, I hit ALL the hills, alright, just a LOT later in the run.

At mile 8, my legs started to feel really heavy. After 2 more hills, I felt like I was just barely moving faster than a sloth. As I was heading up a slow incline that seemed to last for a mile, I just totally hit the wall. I literally felt the energy completely drain out of me. I have NEVER hit the wall before. Yuck. I was so mad at myself, but there was nothing I could do. Besides take the walk of shame to get home. How embarrassing. I have NEVER walked home. It probably took me 30-40 minutes just to walk those last 2 miles. I thought I would run the last mile home. Nope, that lasted 2 minutes and I was back to the shameful walk. In that 30-40 minutes, I had completely talked myself out of doing the marathon, ready to take 1 pair of my shoes back and tried to make up an injury that would prevent me from running 26 miles.

After a little pep talk from John, a 2 hour nap and some positive self-talk, I was ready to face the prospect of training for and running the marathon. I am going to run that 11 mile loop next Saturday, just in the opposite direction than I tried to today. Maybe that'll make it tolerable, we'll see.