The last long one

I didn't mean to sound so pessimistic about things in my last post. We all have good and bad days, the bad ones pass as well as the good ones.

I had been planning on this long run for a while. It was supposed to happen last weekend, but with re-occurring shin splints and more acupuncture, I had been resting my running legs for some more time. Earlier this week I had two good runs though (6 and 8 miles) so I was getting confident again. I knew that if I wanted to try to run the marathon in 16 days (SCARY!!!) then this was pretty much my last chance to do a really long run. No pressure, right? Well, as it turns out, maybe the pressure is good for me. I figured that if I could at least tell myself that I had tried my best in terms of the training, considering all the setbacks, then I would not have any regrets, which is very important for me.

So I set out into the rather chilly morning (26F, around -3C), all bundled up with a scarf around my neck, hat, wool gloves, three layers on top, and finished my planned distance of about 18 miles or 30 km (sounds so looong in km's), which is 3 whole laps around Central Park. When you start running, it's a pretty daunting task to finish 3 laps, each of them taking about an hour. It's easier to set little goals, like "I need to just make it past this hill" or "I will stop for a drink after that curve". In any case, things were going really well till I started the 3rd lap, which was really difficult. My legs were in pain, tight and heavy, but I got through it all!

As soon as I stopped, I felt like I couldn't move every again! It took so much effort to just squad down to stretch my quads. I even considered hopping into a cab, but I got through the first few painful blocks of walking and made it to the closest Starbucks for a hot cup of coffee - most amazing after being in the freezing cold for 3 hours! I made it home to a very hot bath (some people swear by taking ice-baths after long runs to reduce inflammation in the legs and for better recovery, but there was NO WAY I would have gotten into a bathtub filled with ice water after that run) and managed to force myself to do a bit of stretching (not the easiest task when your legs are stiff as a board. Besides some pain on the outside of one foot, I am feeling great, a bit tired... I have a train to take this evening to Philadelphia, which will be good for resting my legs, although I also have 2 days of refereeing (standing up) to look forward to. Not so excited about that. Might need a wheelchair...