Zero Down, 20 to GO

See the picture of me smiling above? That was about 15 minutes before the run. Little did I know…

If you listen to music while you run, have you ever decided right before you go out you are so sick of your playlists you just can’t do it?

As I draped my earphones over my neck, the thought of listening to the same stuff AGAIN made me grimace.

So I ditched the buds and went out for the first 20 mile run of my life! (Note to self: DOWNLOAD SOME NEW MUSIC)

I was super crabby for some reason, and the first mile I was internally yelling at everybody and everything I saw.

Not sure why, but I think my brain was trying to fathom how to make my body go for 20 miles.

The difference between 18 and 20 isn’t huge, but now that I was running out of the “teens” I think it seemed overwhelming.

10.53 and Me

Finally after about 3 or 4 miles, I found my groove and felt a lot better.

I tell ya, if my running motivation was based on how I feel for the first 1 or 2 miles I would never do it.

I didn’t look at my watch a ton. Mapping out a course before I left told me approximately where the 10-mile mark would be.

Except for checking once in a while to make sure I wasn’t going too fast I only looked at how many minutes had gone by.

I wanted to start fueling about 45 minutes in.

Sato Ramen, a wonderful little ramen place that we go to when we miss our much loved Japan, was the 10 mile marker.

I checked my watch and I had gone 10.53!

I was RIDICULOUSLY ecstatic about that. It was like a gift…I was SO MUCH FARTHER (haha) than I thought.

It was a great psychological boost.

I was having some stomach issues around this time, using salted water and (pre-packaged) rice pudding in my pouch.

When I had 7 miles to go, I decided to stop eating and drinking because I would immediately get a stitch in my side whenever I took a sip or ate.

BAD, BAD, BAD…don’t ever, ever do this!

My thinking was that I had been fueling for about an hour, so hopefully I had enough to get through??

I was trying to weigh the pros and cons of that approach, while running. I didn’t think I could keep running if I kept making my stomach hurt worse.

Was this “the wall”…

Mile 18…here I was, 2 miles away from being done.

2 miles away from the longest I’ve ever run.

Like a switch was flipped, a shooting pain went from my right glute down my leg.

The pain wasn’t just a “run through it” kind… I felt like I was going to go DOWN.

I also felt sick. My legs physically did not want to work. I pushed through with everything I had, practically hobbling instead of running.

I took the pace way down. As I finished, there were a ton of thoughts, none of them good.

How was I going to go 6.2 more miles in the marathon if I feel like this at 20?

I was close to home and walked there, breathing heavily.

My fingers were chilled to the bone even with gloves. In the door, I shakily made my way up the stairs and dropped to the floor and threw my legs up against the wall.

I could not stop huffing!

I stayed on the floor with my legs up for quite a while, feeling nauseous. 

Finally I felt well enough to get up and take a shower.

Was that the wall? I’m not sure…searching for how it feels online yields many different results.

I’m actually HOPING it was because I can’t imagine feeling like I did and then later in the race hit the wall.

I have to find what works for me for fueling. I did not expect it would be so difficult to figure it out.

I was also feeling a bit hungry about 2 hours in, so I will have to eat more for breakfast as well. I had homemade pizza for dinner and homemade bagels for breakfast.

Both were good, but I must need a bit more? Some days training is just the pits!

2019 UPDATE- Fueling is SO important. Runners need more food in order to sustain the training. Marathons are not for losing weight. My newbie attempt to rationalize not taking in more fuel was a huge mistake. 

I should have slowed down considerably or even have stopped and called it a day when my stomach was acting up. 

I still had many long runs ahead of me, and sometimes we just need to call it.

I also could have popped into a store and gotten some things that I had practiced and knew could fuel me and see if that worked. 

Knowing when to adjust things while on a run is important. Sometimes runs are going to suck and we need to allow ourselves to adjust as needed…or even dump that particular run.