This is your brain on the long run.

It always starts the same: Am I really going to run ## miles?

The long training run is the ultimate head game of running. During a marathon, the reason for the long training run, there is a myriad of distractions. It's during those runs of 17 to 20 miles in preparation for the marathon during which I've really gotten to know myself.

Do I even know where I'm going?

The first mile is the toughest battle. I think about where my route will take me; I've even been known to spend that time figuring out my route, since I'm not big on planning my routes and prefer to just wing it. If I know where I'm going, I try to think happy thoughts about how at certain landmarks, I will only have x miles to go. But then I think about how far away I still am from Second Street and Mulberry, the bathroom at Side Cut, and that dead opossum that's been decaying on the curb for a week. Shit. This might suck.

This has nothing to do with anything.
I just need her sweater.

After a mile, I subconsciously transition from logistics to stress. What do I need to to when I get home? I can't believe I left the house without making the bed. When was the last time that I changed the Brita filter? I hope that my hair isn't too unruly after showering. How are we going to have time do watch Parks and Rec tonight?

Suddenly I've run a significant fraction of my run and I don't care about anything. Just in time for a gel! Ever wonder how the deer talk to each other? What kind of animal left that nugget of poo on the towpath? Why everyone driving past you gawks? How that rodent ended up split in half in the middle of the road and why there is a steak knife next to it? If breathing in the chemical odor surrounding that manufacturing building weekly is going to result in a genetic defect? Of course you have.

I'm too fast to acknowledge a peon like you.
Also, I'm in bad movies.

Here and there, I wish that I had a pocket of rocks to launch at cars that unnecessarily drive far to close to me. On really trying days, I might throw a couple of expletives or hand gestures at ass-wipes behind the wheel. On the other hand, some motorists are so considerate that I yell to them, "Thaaaaanks!" as if they care and can hear me. When I begin to approach another runner or walker, my brain races about how to greet. Morning! Hi! Keep it up! Oh, you look like you're not having a good day. I'm still going to say "hi." Oh, you want to stare at the ground and ignore me? It's like that, is it? And then I feel salty.

This sandwich goes to church on Sunday. I don't.

And before I know it, I've got three miles to go. A 5K? Piece of cake. I think about how fast I'll be able to get it done. Then, it happens: Fooooooooooooood. What am I gonna eat? I wonder if Joe wants to get some Chipotle. Mmmm, a Spicy Chicken Sangweech from Chick-fil-a sounds awesome. Balls! It's Sunday. I think about how many calories I will have burned at the end of the run and rejoice in the fact that it has likely been more than I usually eat in a day, which surely means that I should eat twice as much as what I'd eat on a non-long run day.

Then, there it is! The driveway. The long run is over.

I just ran ## miles. Awesome.

Run for Pi, and PR!

On Pi Day, I ran for Pi. I did not eat any pie.

Hi! I'm Krista and I'm one of those annoying runners who poses for cameras!

The 5K distance doesn't particularly interest me. My first race was a 5K in August, 2011, and I only did that one to motivate myself to keep on running, since I had just picked up on running in July. I didn't run another 5K until June, 2012, and I only ran that because it was at Cedar Point. I ran the Run for Pi, which technically isn't a 5K because the official measurements had it at 3.14 miles as opposed to 3.1, only because I needed to run 3 miles on that day. Oh, and I like gimmicks.

I'm the awkwardly-positioned one.

I didn't have a plan for this race in the name of geekery; I expected that I'd take it easy and start off around 8:05, then see where that would take me. No chip timing on this one, so I got myself as close to the starting line as possible without being in the way of those "serious" runners. In the relatively few races that I've run, I've learned that at the start it's easy to get sucked into a pace much faster than I have any business attempting. That photo to the left shows me barely a tenth of a mile into the race, moving at 6:37. Whooooa, doggy.

I got my legs in check and slowed myself down to finish the first mile in 7:10. At the beep of my Garmin, I deliberated whether or not I needed to pull back closer to 8:00, or just play it out at that pace, which felt good and, honestly, kinda easy. I went with the latter and finished mile 2 in 7:06.

When my Garmin beeped again, I was confused. How am I doing this? Why won't, nay, can't I slow down? How badly am I going to hurt later? Am I gonna spew when I'm finished? There's a first time for everything. Still, I felt good. That is, until the course started playing head games with me. I had run 3-milers at the race location plenty of times, since that's where group run takes place. To add a little distance, the race organizers had to add a few extra turns here and there, and they decided to do it all toward the end. First, there was this annoying little left turn then u-turn thing.

Then, where we usually do turn to wrap up the group run, there WAS no turn!

HI!

At that point, I was perturbed because I knew exactly where the finish was, and I knew that I was going to need to pass it in order to get back to it. Eventually, there it was--that big, inflatable arch all like, "Here I am, Krista! But you aren't allowed to cut through that parking lot to get to me! You must run around it to get to me (insert Nelson laugh here)!" Despite the mockery that I made up in my head, I couldn't help but cheese it up when I saw a camera. My facial expression and gesture demonstrate my glee to be almost finished and that, since I had just finished mile 3 at 7:06, I was about to take a big, fat PR.

Maybe it was the lady dressed up like a piece of pie...

And there I am, finishing up that last .14 in 55.6 seconds. I'm not sure what that facial expression is all about. I don't remember anything really interesting or gawk-worthy going on to my right, but I look pretty disturbed by whatever it is I was seeing. Or maybe I was just pooped and very much ready to be finished.

3.14 miles in 22:19. Although it wasn't a true 5K--they even had a sign at 3.1 that read "If this was (sic) a 5K, you would be done!--I'm taking it as a 5K PR (-1:27!!!!).

To make the Pi PR even sweeter (get the play on words?), I won my age group! And I wasn't the only one in it! I am still waiting for official results to show up online, but awards went to the top 6 or 7 in my age group, which leads me to believe that there may have only been 6 or 7 of us. Still, I was on top! BOO-YAH!

17 Miles in the Low Country

My 17-miler took me past this:

And this:

And this:

On the morning of my cousin's wedding, I managed to squeeze in an awesome 17-miler. Before setting out, I doubted that I'd make it the entire 17 miles. I was up late the night before shucking oysters (which I learned that I do like roasted) and drinking bubbly and beer, then I needed to be so fresh and so clean and at the spa  ready to be beautified at 10:00AM. I woke up around 5:30AM, Joe got up just after 6:00, and we were running shortly before 6:30. He stuck with me for the first 10 miles, which helped so much namely because I really needed motivation to get started. It's always easier when you're with a buddy, especially on long runs.

We were at the Ford Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. Prior to arriving on Friday, I attempted to map out my run, but I couldn't seem to find enough road to make up anything interesting. We learned upon arrival that the cart path on the golf course is accessible to runners, there is a 2+ mile levee/dike/dyke/slave-built bridge connecting each end of the plantation, and that there are 13 miles of road. With some creativity, dodging of horse apples, and swinging through a few holes of the golf course a couple of times, 17.03 miles were complete. At a good training pace, might I add! 8:51 per mile.

And then, I got hair-sprayed, airbrushed, and fake eyelashes.

Oh yeah, and I drank champagne all day.

Long Runs: Great Success

It's the middle of training week 8 for CLE. Things are looking good; I've been reaching my planned weekly mileage, long runs have been solid, and I'm feeling improvements. Unfortunately, I haven't done any speedwork since Yassos a few of weeks ago. I can only blame myself for that--because I haven't designated speedwork days on my Excel document of this training plan, I've failed to think of doing it. I could do that now, but...

Anywho, I had a super-duper accomplishment two weekends ago. I arrived in Atlanta at 11:30PM on that Friday night, got to our accommodations around 1:00AM, and was awake until 3:00AM, listening to drunk groomsmen singing outside of our room. I woke up around 7:00AM, wide awake, and found my way to the resort's fitness center for a treadmill run. My scheduled long run was 10 miles, but I only anticipated running 7. Well, really, I anticipated doing 3 or 4, but I told myself that I would not step off of that treadmill until I hit at least 7. The last time I ran on a treadmill, nearly one year ago, I barely made it 4 miles. It was so boring. Despite my sleep shortage, the stars must have been aligned just right on the night prior, because I banged out 10 treadmill miles.

And I could have run more.

I felt like a million bucks for the rest of the day, and I attribute it to accomplishing more on that treadmill than I expected. It also helped me to feel less guilt about all of the wine, miniature crab cakes, steak, and salmon that I consumed later in the day.

This past Sunday was my longest run yet at 16 miles. On Saturday night, I had a couple of double IPAs, lots of very cheesy bread, and ribs. I was clearly not thinking about the condition in which I'd find myself the next morning. Those two beers knocked me out, so I was asleep, according to Joe, by 9:00PM. I don't know if it was going to bed so early or the champion-combination dinner I had, but I ran my entire 16-miler feeling pretty good about myself. The first 10-ish were with Joe and Rob, then I trekked solo around Perrysburg for my last 6. Here are my splits, those positive in bold:

9:04, 8:56, 8:49, 8:56, 8:46, 9:08, 9:34, 9:06, 8:58, 8:41, 8:39, 8:37, 8:35, 8:32, 8:43, 8:22, 0:17 (.03)
Total time: 2:21:44
Total miles: 16.03

I'm happy with those splits, especially for my longest run yet in training. I fueled with a couple of Clif Shots, the first I think in mile 5 and the second around mile 11.5, which I think I planned perfectly. I did struggle a little bit in miles 6 and 7, but I think it was just getting myself going again after taking a water and fuel break. Those Clif Shots are definitely where it's at.

This weekend is going to be a real challenge. I am in a wedding, so I'm not sure if my long run is going to happen on Sunday morning. I'm thinking about doing it on Saturday morning before all of the pre-wedding beautification treatments begin at 10:00AM. If I am going to do that, I'll need to be up and running by 7:00AM. That'll mean that I need to behave on Friday night at the rehearsal dinner. Here's hoping that I can continue to maintain awesomeness from the previous two long runs...