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Sunday, August 22, 2010

9-teen milez

I went to bed on Friday night feeling sort've excited about the proposed long run for Saturday morning. The last time I was doing this sort of distance was this last winter... in Utah no less. AKA: Freezing. So, what's worse? Utah winter or Houston summer?? I haven't really decided yet. Utah winters have nothing on winters I had growing up in New Hampshire, but still cold. Then Houston in the summer... yikes. Humidity... and more humidity... the whole sweating thing while blow drying your hair after right after getting out of the shower isn't exactly ideal... but I guess it's better than worrying if you have enough layers on to avoid frostbite? Maybe.

I remembered my 18mile training run when I was training for SLC... it was on a treadmill! I was so hoping that I wasn't going to have to resort to that due to bad weather. I got up and I started getting ready and I ate my "Snickers Marathon Bar". Okay, I have never liked the idea of "power bars" because they don't always taste that great but my sister got me some of these Snicker Marathon bars and I love them! They taste so good! Don't let the Snickers title fool you... this isn't a candy bar. I absolutely love them and I do feel like they do help my long runs. I can't eat much before I go out and run, but I can't go with an empty stomach- so this is an excellent solution for my long run or race days when I can't eat my normal breakfast :-) Okay.. shameless plug over. Thanks to marathonbars.com for the picture.



This run overall was as good as it could be in very hot and humid weather. I've promised hubby that I won't run in the dark- so as soon as the sky started to lighten up I headed out. My feet were "body- glided" (is that how you'd say it?) I had my tunes, my water belt, Gu, cell phone, Garmin and my road id and I was good to go. There were so many rabbits out this morning. In NH we had deer... apparently here in TX there are just lots of rabbits... and dead frogs... but it was really neat to see so many of them.

My route was a 3 mile-plus-some-change, not my favorite, but that early in the morning, and possible potty issues- I needed to make sure I was close to home. I did have to make 3 stops. The first stop I needed was to run inside to get a towel to wipe of all the nats that I ran through around a small lake in our neighborhood. Gross. The 2nd stop was to refill my water bottles and my 3rd stop was unexpected. My in-laws decided to stop by in the morning and they passed by me on my route right as I was going to pass the house for my last loop. So, I stopped to see them for a few mins with the hubby who was being manly and mowing the lawn :-) (it looks great!).

I was so excited to get this done. I am sure that my new neighbors think I am absolutely crazy, but I was so excited that I was able to do this (outside no less!). It was hot out, but it could've been worse and I made sure to have enough water and Gu to get me through.

I tried to get a picture of my garmin telling me that I finished my work out at 19miles, but I was just a second too late! So, here is a picture of my watch right after that flashed up :-) So, in the end- this too me 3 hours and 3 minutes :-) That's not including my pit stops, so I was out a little longer- but I feel like when you run for 19 miles, you are allowed to take pit stops and not have to include them in your final time :-)



I am feeling great though! I can move and walk around with minimal issues and that is always a good thing after really long runs! I would call this run as a success!

PS: I ordered yet another running skirt this last week and it came in the mail yesterday! I am excited to "break it in" this week! Oh... and! For any of you running the Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon- make sure to look at the August e-mail all the way at the bottom. They have a reusable (up until the day of the marathon11/14) $25 off coupon for purchases of $100 or more at Sports Authority. I don't really like getting running shoes at big department type stores... I like going to specific running stores- but seriously. $25 off on shoes?? No brainer! They had the shoes I wanted and were comfortable with and I was good to go :-) Ah, feels good to save monies :)

If you are like me and like the running stores but don't know what shoes to get but still want to use your coupon... you could always go to the running store and get advice and then head over to Sports Authority to get the shoes there? Is that awful of me to suggest??

Happy Running!

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