A "Come to Jesus" Run...

Well people, I survived the "furtherest" run I've ever done...19.6 miles! I ran from St. Charles all the way to Defiance on Saturday morning. Yes, the day before the CHAD's Coalition race. I'm not going to lie...it was hard, it sucked, I wanted to quit but I amazed myself because I had a smile on my face pretty much the entire time.

I started off with Angie and Matt D. (a DM friend) breaking the rules of the Katy Trail and starting at 6am before daylight hours-oops! I hung with Ang and Matt for about the first 1.5 going at an 11:30 pace. As you can tell (it took me 5 hours and 33 minutes to finish), I obviously didn't keep at that pace too long. My foot/leg went numb for just a little bit then it finally went away. I had this issue when I ran last weekend. It might have been numb more during the rest of the run but my whole body was numb so I didn't care.

At the Page Road, I tried out my organic fruit snacks (Honey Stingers) and offered them to Matt and Angie. Matt denied because he wasn't into organic. I quickly informed him that neither was I, I mean I'm the first to grab the Ding Dong out of the box, I was just looking for gels and snacks without caffeine. I then told them both that the fruit snacks weren't what I was expecting, I was thinking it would be more like the fruit snacks in my lunch...you know dinosaur shaped. Matt said that being healthy should be fun so I might write them a letter informing them that fruit snacks should be made in the shape of running shoes. Side note here: I also tried Hammer Gel and I think that this stuff without caffeine doesn't do much for me. Yeah, it's got sugar but I think my sugar intake is high enough that a couple fruit snacks aren't going to do much for me.

The next running partner that met me was Trent AKA the secondary husband. Poor Trent, when Matt's not available, I am always asking him for rides home, to run races with me or to bring me water. So he was stuck running the next 6.2 with me. Unfortunately, him being at well over 6 ft and me at 5'4, well...my run was more his walk. So he walked with me while I ran and then he'd run ahead and double back to me. We saw Matt D. when he looped back and, of course, he caught us on a walking/snack break...never fails!

Sarah was the next running partner to meet; however, she went to the wrong location. So she ran to me and I was by myself for about 1.5 miles in which I walked the whole time. Once Sarah caught up, she refreshed me with water and we chatted until we met up with Holly.

Holly and Sarah both ran part of the last 3.1 with me. Holly was a good coach, telling me I could only walk for a minute and half and then we had to get back to running. By this point though, my run was really more of a shuffle which was maybe a half second faster than my walk. She also informed me when I was complaining about my body aching, not tired, just that achey feeling that won't go away, that pain is weakness leaving the body. I responded with, "Well I have a LOT of weakness then!"

Once we reached Defiance, we stopped in the bike shop for an Orange Gatorade (always my drink of choice!) and then started the trek back to Weldon Springs where the car was. Seriously, I didn't know if my body had it in me to make it but we eventually got back.

I got home, iced and hydrated and wondered how I'm going to get through the rest of this weekend including the 5k the next day. I wouldn't say that this went fast but it never was slow (except for the 3.1 mile walk back) and I was never bored. I think meeting different people along the way helped out...a lot!

I feel very awesome that I made it, definitely disappointed in the time but I think this was a "Come to Jesus" run. At this point, I HAVE to do the full...for me, there's no turning back. This run told me that it's going to suck and be hard and I'm not going to be able to move but as long as I finish then that's all that matters. OH and I've already made up my mind, I will NEVER do a marathon after this one! And for Sherrie (my awesome running partner whose going to be by my side during the full marathon), my toenails are painted pink right now so I can't tell yet if any have turned black! FYI-Sherrie ran in the Patriot's Run on Saturday and ran 47.75 MILES in 9 hours and 11 minutes, she's a machine people and she's my hero!

So to finish up this note, here's my run in numbers:
0 trash cans along the Katy Trail
0 dead bodies but there was a lot of water along the trail so I might have missed one or two
1 time we thought we saw someone dumping a body
1 turtle that scared the bejeezus of out of me
2 snails...that passed me
1 time I thought Trent was going to jump out of the woods and scare me
2 crop circles I pointed out to Trent
2 times that Trent danced and sang for me (we were together for a LONG TIME)
4 bathrooms on the trail, a port-a-potty on a job site, two trail bathrooms and a fire hydrant
4 times that I squated to pee on the side of the trail
1 time I almost got caught peeing
2 times I wanted to quit
3 times I wanted to cry
5 awesome running partners
AND...
19.6 freakin' miles people!!!