18 miler, today is the day! I knew the temps would be near 40 at the end of my run today, so originally I had visions of short sleeve shirt, arm warmers and capris. Oh no. The minute I stepped outside in that 35 degree weather I quickly made up my mind it was still time for my trusty fleece lined tights. I’m such a wimp! I grabbed gloves, hat, 2 layers of long sleeves and even changed my shoes because I thought they would be too cold. Sad, because my orange Newton’s were so excited to be running again! Sorry guys, you just gotta wait some more.
I ran a workout from my Garmin, so it told me what paces to run. The first 2 were warm up. They were supposed to be really slow, but unless I’m talking to someone, it was really hard to run that slow! Then my marathon pace miles kicked in. My plan was just to run comfortably, but if my watch told me to go faster I would. If I heard no sound, I wouldn’t even look at my watch. That plan worked pretty good! I couldn’t tell what my miles were when they ended, but each time I glanced I was around 8:35ish and they felt good.
Along the way I even needed to shed my hat & gloves and hide them along the path because I was getting warm. Luckily they were still there when I went back to get them! I did have one glitch around mile 14 and had a bad side stitch. I had to stop and take a GU and soon it went away. I did start to think that I should have focused on keeping closer to 8:50 because by mile 16 I was exhausted and ready to be done with the fast running… and luckily I was! It was a painful 2 miles back to my car, but I did it. I even stretched in the back of my car. Quite a sight for people passing by!
Here are my splits. My targeted middle pace was 8:50.
The next stop was for a reward on a job well done – iced coffee!! I splurged and bought it from a coffee shop. Yikes, so expensive! But luckily I had a coupon for BOGO free, so I’ll be enjoying that yumminess this weekend too.
I thought the cup was quite fitting. Yes, I did go to the coffee shop with a salty crusty face. It made me look pretty badass! 😉
Alan, if you are reading this, you could just stop right now and rest assured that I ran and then did some housework. I had the home life under control.
For all of you still here, I had a “congrats to me” day! I mean, with all of that hard marathon training, a person is due for a little relaxation every now and then.
As I got ready for my post run shower I thought, heck, I should take a nice long soak in the tub!! And watch some House Hunters International! So that’s just what I did. Yep, something so deliciously enjoyable with taking a bath in the middle of the day. I think it’s good recovery from a long run too! I did put away some laundry too, so that counts for my housework quota for the day 🙂
I caught my kitty being naughty too! The cat was all wound up and was chewing on Alan’s workout clothes. Bad kitty!! (but you’re oh so cute)
And finally – we went out to dinner and finished with this delicious dessert. Yep, this Friday the 13th wasn’t unlucky at all!!
Q: Did anything bad happen to you on Friday the 13th?
A: I did almost lose my car key! But it was in my orange shoes. Whew!
Q: Salt on face… sexy or badass? (please tell me it’s both!) 😉
Well that explains why I always have cat hair on my workout clothes!