Cowboy Hazel

Yesterday, I ran eight miles farther than I've ever run before. It went pretty well. Or, at least, as well as running 34 miles for the first time can go.

It started with Helen and I running quickly down from our place to the Upper West Side where Sarah was waiting patiently (despite the fact that I'd woken up an hour-and-a-half before my alarm went off, I still left the house late). We all said our hellos and then Helen said goodbye and left for Central Park to watch the Healthy Kidney.

Meanwhile, Sarah and I headed west to the river and then started uptown. We hadn't run together since Boston, so there was plenty to catch up on and the miles went quickly. We climbed the big hill up to the George Washington Bridge and then ran to New Jersey. On our way back, I was involved in a nasty altercation with a bicyclist that reminded me how much I hate bicyclists. That, along with the wind and the heavy bike traffic, made the bridge much less enjoyable than normal, but the views were still amazing, as always.

Back on the New York side, we stopped at a deli and I had some Gatorade and cake. We dropped back down by the river and cruised back down to 72nd without any real difficulty. Time was flying and the 7:30/mile pace we were doing felt fine. I knew it was too fast, but I was enjoying the run and didn't want to mess with it. Just after mile 18, Sarah said goodbye and headed back into town. I kept going at about the same pace even though I was starting to get tired.

At 34th Street, I followed signs to a McDonald's, where I had a delicious cheeseburger and chicken nuggets. I'm still surprised by how well McD's sits on the stomach mid-run. But it works, so I'm sticking with it. I kept running down to Battery Park, saw the Statue of Liberty, avoided the tourists as much as possible and then started up the East River.

Just under the Brooklyn Bridge, I hit the marathon distance. I had 3:20 and change on my watch and was both excited and nervous to be heading into uncharted mileage territory. Just before, around mile 25, my pace dropped from 7:30's to 8:00's. That wasn't a conscious switch but instead the result of me getting really tired.

I stuck at 8's until mile 30 and then things really started getting rough. I stopped at a gas station for Gatorade and peanut-butter crackers, but they didn't revive me as much as I hoped they would. It was hot, my joints were aching, and I was really fatigued from being out on my feet so long. I looked at my watch in almost disbelief when it clicked over to 4:00:00.

The same chest cramp that from New Jersey hit me around mile 32 and forced me to walk a quarter mile. I took lots of deep breaths, drank some water/Gatorade from my handheld, and then willed myself to finish up the run strong. Well, the 8:30/mile pace wasn't exactly strong, but at least I was still running.

I finished up with 34.24 in 4:28:31, a 7:50/mile pace overall. I feel like I learned a lot. One of those things is that the pace I started out at was way too fast. I just can't sustain that type of running for more than 25 or so miles. Another was that this 100 miler is going to hurt like hell. I mean, I knew that it would, but yikes, that was rough out there yesterday at the end. And that was only a little over a third of the way there.

But, there were positives too: digestive issues were a non-issue, I finished the run standing, and I wasn't even too beat up by it afterwards. After a quick nap, Helen and I went out to a party in Brooklyn, then to a barbecue on the UWS and didn't get home until way past our normal bedtime. And then today, we did a 9 mile loop into Queens and despite a knee flare-up, it went pretty well. I wasn't nearly as sore as I'd imagined I would be. That got me to almost 82 miles for the week, which I'm pretty happy with for this point in the training cycle.