Long Run
by Robert James Reese » February 28th, 2009 » 6 Comments
By the time eight-thirty rolled around this morning, I had already run over 21 miles. That being the case, you'd probably assume that I had a pretty productive day. Not so. I've been lounging around ever since, trying to recover from one of the most taxing runs I've ever completed.
I had the alarm set for 3:55, but I ended up not even needing it. My bizarre internal clock somehow woke me up at 3:45. I got dressed, stretched out a bit, ate a sandwich and headed out the door. The internet said it was 40 degrees, so I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt when I first left the house. I got outside and realized there was no way it was that warm so I had to head back up and change. I stuck with shorts, but I switched to two shirts and added a hat and gloves. By the time I got back outside, I was seriously behind schedule and had to run a very quick mile down to 96th Street to catch the bus. Not at all the way I planned to start the day.
As I was waiting for Sarah after the bus dropped me off over on the west side, I saw a steady string of drunken people coming out of the subway and stumbling towards their homes. Invariably, they would look at me like I was crazy. Hell, I thought, I probably am crazy. Why I am up this early?
We started running uptown a little after 5:00, got to Columbia and then turned around and headed down the Hudson. A couple miles into the run, I knew I was in for some serious digestive trouble. Luckily, I found an open bathroom around mile 6 and lost about twenty pounds (yes, an exaggeration, but you get the idea). Good news was that I came out of there feeling like the worst was behind me and ready for a solid finish to the run...
The sun was coming up over the Statue of Liberty as it first came into view. It was unbelievable. All the buildings across the river in New Jersey were all lit up and looked like diamonds sitting out in the water. I wish I could put into words how beautiful it was, but I can't. I said, You know, I don't think we're crazy. I think everyone else is crazy for not doing this.
That mentality didn't last long. When we made our turnaround in front of the Ferry Building, we were greeted with a brutal, freezing headwind. My hands got so cold they began to burn and every step I took felt like two because the wind was pushing back so hard.
Around mile 13, we stopped to buy Gatorade and water from the vending machines and it took both of us working together to get the bottles open because our hands were so frozen. I was scared to drink the Gatorade because my stomach was still feeling iffy – I knew the only reason I wasn't having issues was because there was absolutely nothing left in there. Turns out, my fears were warranted. I ended up having to stop for another less-than-pleasant visit with the same toilet as before. This left me completely drained of energy. Starting up again, I questioned whether I had the final miles in me or not.
During these miles, I was also really concerned about Sarah. She was complaining of dizziness and worried that she was going to pass out. I offered her my subway pass but she said that she'd be okay. Then, I tried to convince her that we could just go to 96th instead of back to 116th and doubling back (18 miles instead of 20), but I knew that she would never take me up on that offer either. We were both set on finishing this twenty miles and nothing short of a major catastrophe was going to stop us.
That whole last part of the run is a little bit of a blur in my head. I'm not sure if it was the wind, the stomach problems, or what, but I really was struggling out there today. I felt like I'd regressed a bunch. We did finish the 20.05 miles, but we had had to make four stops and I didn't even want to know the pace. (I know it wasn't good.)
That being said, I have no regrets about the run itself. I feel like I did the best I could do under the circumstances and I feel like I'm stronger now for having persevered through it. I definitely could have done a better job with my pre-run nutrition (and plan to do so on future runs), but other than that, I feel like a lot of it was just out of my control. Sometimes you're gonna have the wind with you, sometimes you're not. You have to just keep running no matter which is the case.
I have a 5K tomorrow morning, but am not sure how it's going to go. Needless to say, I'm going into it pretty beat up and therefore have less than high expectations. I'll just try to have fun and see what happens.
I had the alarm set for 3:55, but I ended up not even needing it. My bizarre internal clock somehow woke me up at 3:45. I got dressed, stretched out a bit, ate a sandwich and headed out the door. The internet said it was 40 degrees, so I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt when I first left the house. I got outside and realized there was no way it was that warm so I had to head back up and change. I stuck with shorts, but I switched to two shirts and added a hat and gloves. By the time I got back outside, I was seriously behind schedule and had to run a very quick mile down to 96th Street to catch the bus. Not at all the way I planned to start the day.
As I was waiting for Sarah after the bus dropped me off over on the west side, I saw a steady string of drunken people coming out of the subway and stumbling towards their homes. Invariably, they would look at me like I was crazy. Hell, I thought, I probably am crazy. Why I am up this early?
We started running uptown a little after 5:00, got to Columbia and then turned around and headed down the Hudson. A couple miles into the run, I knew I was in for some serious digestive trouble. Luckily, I found an open bathroom around mile 6 and lost about twenty pounds (yes, an exaggeration, but you get the idea). Good news was that I came out of there feeling like the worst was behind me and ready for a solid finish to the run...
The sun was coming up over the Statue of Liberty as it first came into view. It was unbelievable. All the buildings across the river in New Jersey were all lit up and looked like diamonds sitting out in the water. I wish I could put into words how beautiful it was, but I can't. I said, You know, I don't think we're crazy. I think everyone else is crazy for not doing this.
That mentality didn't last long. When we made our turnaround in front of the Ferry Building, we were greeted with a brutal, freezing headwind. My hands got so cold they began to burn and every step I took felt like two because the wind was pushing back so hard.
Around mile 13, we stopped to buy Gatorade and water from the vending machines and it took both of us working together to get the bottles open because our hands were so frozen. I was scared to drink the Gatorade because my stomach was still feeling iffy – I knew the only reason I wasn't having issues was because there was absolutely nothing left in there. Turns out, my fears were warranted. I ended up having to stop for another less-than-pleasant visit with the same toilet as before. This left me completely drained of energy. Starting up again, I questioned whether I had the final miles in me or not.
During these miles, I was also really concerned about Sarah. She was complaining of dizziness and worried that she was going to pass out. I offered her my subway pass but she said that she'd be okay. Then, I tried to convince her that we could just go to 96th instead of back to 116th and doubling back (18 miles instead of 20), but I knew that she would never take me up on that offer either. We were both set on finishing this twenty miles and nothing short of a major catastrophe was going to stop us.
That whole last part of the run is a little bit of a blur in my head. I'm not sure if it was the wind, the stomach problems, or what, but I really was struggling out there today. I felt like I'd regressed a bunch. We did finish the 20.05 miles, but we had had to make four stops and I didn't even want to know the pace. (I know it wasn't good.)
That being said, I have no regrets about the run itself. I feel like I did the best I could do under the circumstances and I feel like I'm stronger now for having persevered through it. I definitely could have done a better job with my pre-run nutrition (and plan to do so on future runs), but other than that, I feel like a lot of it was just out of my control. Sometimes you're gonna have the wind with you, sometimes you're not. You have to just keep running no matter which is the case.
I have a 5K tomorrow morning, but am not sure how it's going to go. Needless to say, I'm going into it pretty beat up and therefore have less than high expectations. I'll just try to have fun and see what happens.
6 Comments
That northerly wind mustn't have been pleasant heading uptown. Do you ever take gels for the long runs?
Good luck uptown tomorrow.
I am glad you got the 20 miler in though, as horrible as it was. I am sure the next one will be better! ;-)Good luck tomorrow!
That's pretty hardcore. If I lost 20lbs while in route you best believe I'd be calling The Man to come pick me up LOL Great job!
The view of Lady Liberty would make it all worth it. You should take a picture of that!
Nice run!!!
Joe, I love the phrase "satisfied-exhaustion." That's exactly what I was feeling. No, I don't usually use the gels. I usually get by okay on just Gatorade and maybe a Clif bar. But, I'll have to work on that as I stretch out the distances into the longer runs, I'm sure.
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