Congratulations to Flying Pig half and full marathon finishers Stephanie and my dad (wahoo!!)–and all of the other runners this morning! Today is a rest day for me, so I tracked them via alert texts while I downed coffee and worked on a take-home exam.
On Saturday morning, I finished my last 20 mile run before the Bayshore marathon in 3 weeks!, and I’m happy to be done with the longest training runs. I usually get some sort of deranged enjoyment from waking up early to run 20 miles, but not this season! I am happily shutting the door behind them.
I set out to do the whole 20 alone because most of the normal crew members are recovering from April marathons. It was a little lonely, but on the plus side, I started at 9:30am instead of 5am. Gorgeous weather from the get go and no headlamp needed.
My quads were tired starting at mile 1 and exhausted starting at mile 12, but I physically felt about the same from mile 12 to mile 20. Mentally, I wasn’t feeling any of this run except for a small burst of pure joy when I realized I was on mile 17, not 16. Here are some thoughts that kept me going:
- Buying the largest watermelon in the world after this.
- At least it’s not raining.
- Be thankful that you’re only tired, not in pain.
- Push yourself now to enjoy the race more.
- Maybe I will get a tan.
My favorite part of the run was mile 7 to 7.5 because a group of 3 girls caught up to me, so I joined them to feed off their social energy until they reached the bottom a giant hill, and then I turned around…
Twenty miles done!
As promised, I drove my sweaty face right to the grocery store and bought a 22 lb watermelon. Whenever I buy a watermelon, I purposely use the self check-out scanners so I can see how heavy my watermelon choice weights in. I have a competition going on with myself, and so far my watermelon PR is 26 lbs. Shooting for 30!
After the run, I had a few hours of down time, and then I picked up Bre for an outdoor party at a professor’s house. The AuD class above us presented their research at an annual symposium on Friday morning, so we celebrated their accomplishments and wished them good luck as they move across the country for their externships.
The rest of us look forward to being at that point.
We talked, ate, ziplined, trampolined, treehoused (okay, I only did the first two because my tired legs were not about to move any extra)–all in the coolest backyard ever. It was fun to spend time with everyone in an environment without dress pants, text books, and otoscopes. Later that night, I went to Bre’s for a quick round of Catan with her and Ed.
One paper and one meeting left of the semester!
26 lb watermelon?! HOLY COW! Is that normal? I don’t know if I’ve ever weighed my watermelon choices… haha. congrats on finishing your last super long run! yay!
Haha in the middle of the summer it’s easy to find 20+ pounders, but the hardest part is carrying them! Watermelons ruin the whole “loop every grocery bag around your arm and hobble into your house in one trip” thing
WOO HOO!! Nice job out there! I’m so jealous of your 9:30 start time. I was out at 5am haha.
I was also thinking about getting a tan once the sun came up. It didn’t happen. Oh well.
I love that we are on the same schedule right now…it’s nice to have a bloggy friend who is at the same point in their training as I am! Good luck with the next three weeks! We’ve got this!
(Oh and that’s one big watermelon!)
Good job to you too!!! Ha you were finished before I even started! And YES it’s nice that we’re on the same schedule right now..we can tough out the next 2.5 weeks together!
Way to knock 20 miles out of the ballpark!
Sounds like a really cool backyard; I think I want a zipline in mine!
thanks. And yeah, such a sweet backyard! They even brew their own beer and have a rockwall in their basement. dream house!
Pahaha I want to go watermelon shopping with you!