Week 25: Fourteen miles

20:40 sec run/walk ratio
3:52 hours
14.49  miles
16.1 min/mile

Good run today! I was a bit worried, as I had a migraine yesterday, and drank green tea at lunch to try to help fight it off, so was a bit caffeinated last night. I didn't sleep as well as I could have, and for some reason decided to set the alarm for 5:30 AM instead of 5 AM and ended up not getting to the park until 7 AM, and my digestion hadn't quite kicked into gear when I left. In addition, I kept forgetting to finish washing my running clothes (had them soaking in the wash tub for two days) until I was about to go to bed last night, when I finally got them washed and hung up to dry, but the shorts and bra were still damp this morning, so I ended up using my not-as-comfy Kmart bra and over-the-knee running tights instead.

Despite all that, I felt pretty good and got off to a good energetic start. I'd had a protein drink before my run, and brought three GUs with me and used them all. They were 40 mg caffeine, 20 mg caffeine, and no caffeine and I used them in that order, at around 6, 9, and 12 miles.

I ended up having to stop and use the bathroom after 9 miles (see digestion not in gear when I left). If I'd gotten up at 5 AM and had another half hour at home to drink coffee and wake up and use the bathroom one more time, I might have been able to avoid the stop. I hope I don't have to make any bathroom stops during the actual half marathon, but even if I do, as long as there's not a big line, it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. I put my app on pause while I was in the bathroom, because I felt like I was doing a pretty good pace and didn't want to throw it off, but a few minutes wouldn't have made that much difference. I did also take time to throw water on my face and refill my water bottle, because it was getting hot by then.

The weather was no bother until around 10 AM, when it started to get pretty hot. It was probably over 80 F by the time I finished. I could feel the heat slowing me down, but I poured water over my head and dribbled it down my back, and wet my handkerchief and put it around my neck, and was able to keep going pretty well. High today is supposed to be 88 F, so I'm glad I was finished by 11 AM! I've been watching the weather for Long Beach, and they've been having some days in the high 80s, too. Yikes! Hope it cools down by the half marathon. That's only two weeks away now! But even if it's still hot by then, I've already proved I can do a half marathon-length run starting at 7 AM and finishing in heat and still keep a good pace. I'm ready!