Sheri - Back from the Brink

I have just under four weeks until the Big Sur Half Marathon race(http://www.bigsurhalfmarathon.org), and I?m less than half way toward my fundraising goal of $1500.  I hope that you can support me in some small way to help fund clinical research to search for treatments for Multiple Myeloma.  You can go to my fundraising website here(http://www.active.com/donate/2009UmbrellaMarathon/sherijung).

Saturday I ran the longest long run of this training cycle,15 miles.  This was only the second time I?ve ever run this far, and it was not easy! I ran 14 miles two weeks ago, but 15 seemed much more difficult than just one additional mile. 

I got up early to caffeinate and eat breakfast before I ferried Adam over to the high school for his PSAT at 7:45 am.  I let Steve get a head start on me for his long run, because he would need to be finished in time to pick up Maggie (since she is not quite the long runner that I am). I put on all my gear and supplies: ipod with Nike+ to keep me company and keep track of the miles, my waist belt mounted water bottle loaded with Cytomax for energy and electrolytes, extra ShotBloks for more sugary calories in the last few miles, cell phone to call for Maggie?s pick up, a collapsible waterbowl for her, and of course Maggie herself tethered to me on her leash with a roll of plastic bags for clean up after her pit stops.

 The weather was a bit funky, starting out clear, but then clouding over but remaining bit warm and muggy, with very little breeze.  I think this is what made even the first half of the run seem hard.  But no fear, the clouds soon burned off, but that just made it seem hotter, just not so muggy.  I know I?m whining?the maximum temperature was probably only 73. 

I took my usual long run route, from home through our local school/city parks, and then down the street to Cataldi park for a loop past all the squirrels there (if you?ve seen ?UP? then you know how Maggie behaves).  We go further down the street to Penitencia Creek park and run past the ducks and geese at the pond there,then we take the Penitencia Creek trail all the way along the creek, under Hwy 680, and around another pond at a park next to Independence High School.  There were quite a few Canadian geese next to this pond, but by this time Maggie was too tired to notice.  Steve still wasn?t home yet, so we made our way back along the trail and headed to the other end of the trail where there was another portion of the park, this time with a water district pond, and an impromptu dog party taking place.  Too bad, Maggie, we have to keep going!

Steve had to jump in the car right after completing his 9 miler to rescue my poor Maggie at mile eleven (her longest run ever!)  She is always glad to see a friendly face come to pick her up.  But I had more running.  Amazingly, I was able to pickup the pace.  I think I just wanted to be done.  At the half marathon mark, I was at about 2:04 total time.  I was going a bit too fast, no wonder it felt hard.  My target pace was 9:38, but I was running at about a 9:28 pace instead.

I finished this long run feeling completely spent and sore.  I tried out some icing of my legs to see if it would help with soreness?not sure if it helped overall, but it sure did feel good while I was doing it. I bought some Zensah leg sleeves(they are really thick lycra to help with circulation for the lower legs) for after this run, so I wore them all day. They felt really good, so I wished they were longer to help the aches in my upper legs too.  I felt pretty uncomfortably sore for the rest of the day, but a good night?s sleep was all that was necessary to feel completely better by morning.