20 Miles

I ran 20 miles today. This is something I never thought I would be able to do. The human body amazes me. With proper training, nutrition, and a whole lot of patience and determination, you can run a long distance. Ultramarathoners cover 50 miles at a time. I will never become that crazy, but it’s still an amazing feat.

I suppose it’s also amazing that the human body can do this too.

Side note: I need to do more ballet again. Post-marathon I hope this will happen.

I woke up at 6 to give myself time to a) wake up b) eat something, and c) use the bathroom at least twice. Runners, you know what I’m talking about!

My pre-run fuel was a piece of wheat bread with plenty of peanut butter.

I left around 7 to meet my dad at 15th street on the boardwalk in Newport Beach by 7:30. He had gotten there an hour before to get 6 miles in before meeting me – he had 26 miles planned for the day! He had to have such an early start because I needed to be home by noon to get ready for a 2 pm hair appointment. He said it was all good training though because these races start early. So true.

We definitely took some walk breaks and paced ourselves pretty slow in general. He actually has been going a little slower than I generally have, but it was good for me to do that. When we were done, my knee wasn’t nearly as stiff as it had been last time. We kept just under a 10 minute mile when running. I had a Clif shot gel at miles 8 and 15, and drank a Gatorade/water mix that became less Gatorade and more water as the run went on.

We started at 15th street and ran to the wedge where I had taken this picture last week.

Today was much more foggy and I didn’t a picture. You could hardly see the water.

From there we went back down the boardwalk and all the way to the Santa Ana River Basin. We crossed the bridge and knew that we had to go until my Garmin said 12.7 and then we would turn back. Here was the view in Huntington Beach at mile 12.7.

Daddy eating Gu, not getting tired at all.

Me at mile 12.7, also not getting tired at all.

Not sure what’s going on with the red skin.  Or my half-closed right eye.

We kept running, or as Daddy called it, trotting, stopping to walk when necessary. Eventually we made it back to the Santa Ana River Basin and were officially back in Newport Beach. The entire way back was much easier mentally because we were going toward the cars rather than away from them. The Garmin beeped 20 miles a couple of blocks ahead of where we thought it would, and we walked back to the cars. Daddy still wanted to cover about a mile more because he hadn’t quite done the full 6 before meeting up with me. I thought he was crazy, but I also totally understand wanting to finish what you set out to do.

When we hit 20.

I got home, foam rolled, and drank a protein shake made with chocolate protein powder and chocolate coconut milk. ‘Twas delicious. I didn’t snap a photo. Oops.

After my shower, lunch was a banana and overnight oats. With well-deserved milk and Hershey’s iced coffee.

I’m SO proud of myself for this run. I was nervous, and it was tiring, but I did it. Running it with my daddy helped immensely. Perhaps we can do it again before the race. My longest run before the marathon will be 22 miles, but it won’t be for a few weeks. I’m running the Surf City Half next Sunday, and I plan to treat it like a training run and either take walk breaks or just run it nice and slow. No PR goals for this one.

And now it’s time for a relaxing evening at home. Chipotle and Yogurtland are on the menu tonight!

Oh, and here’s a picture of Oakley trying to steal more hair elastics. I moved the basket of them from the counter to under the sink so she wouldn’t get them, but she promptly figured out where they were and now every time I open the cupboard for something she comes looking.

What did you do today? Run? Something else? Rest? Share with me!