19 miles and an abundance of produce

When Mike and I first moved in together, we used to take walks after work.  Mike used to pretend that he hated doing it, and his running joke was that he was in too much pain to walk.  He would say, "Oh my foot hurts. Oh my back hurts. Oh my ear hurts."  That's kind of how I felt, for real, during my 19 miler on Sunday.

For the most part, my long runs have been going great, and this week was great too, but I was definitely feeling it at the end. We left from Norine's house, and followed the same route as last week, into the next town and back again.  Right off the bat, my left arch was bugging me, and it lasted for the next couple of miles.  Although I'm not due for a new pair of running shoes, I think I have to get some new ones, because my PF keeps threatening to flare up.  I switched from Asics to Nike in March, and I was happy with them at first, but something isn't feeling right, and if I'm going to try something new, I'd better do it now, since I'm exactly one month from the marathon.

My arch started to feel better, and we cruised along, I had a GU at 6.5 miles, later than I normally do, but time was flying by.  We made a pit stop in the park at 9.5 miles, and I felt confident about the second half.  Then my knee started acting up again, and at mile 15 I realized I should have had another GU back at mile 13, although I was drinking Nuun and water.  I was kind of tired, and my legs felt heavy, but we were going up a small hill, and once we turned onto a flat road, I regrouped, turned on my ipod, and felt a million times better, so I took a photo. 

Around mile 17 my legs were really getting a workout, and by 18.5, even my back was feeling it.  I was happy that the run was coming to an end, but I felt like if I really had to, I could do the full 26.  I just wouldn't be very happy about it.

Once I got home the house was empty, so I took my ice bath in peace, and then inhaled a turkey sandwich.  Then I made a smoothie with Amazing Grass, banana, and frozen blueberries and raspberries that we picked this summer.  Then later on Mike made fresh corn and zucchini fritters, we got a huge zucchini at the public market for only a buck.   We also bought 25 pounds of lovely roma tomatoes, I've been roasting them in batches to freeze for sauce.  I actually had some this morning for one of my favorite breakfasts, smeared on some Ezekiel toast.

This week my runs are going to be six, eight, eight, then the long run is 12!  That's going to feel like a cake walk.

I just posted a new Nathan Fuel Belt giveaway here, and there are a couple days left for the CSN giveaway here!

Happy Trails!