Patrick and I spent the week in Southern Illinois. On Saturday, we carb loaded and headed out to run. This time, we ran a portion of the Tunnel Hill trail. The trail is actually an old railroad bed, so it’s flat and very long. We began in Vienna (pronounced Vie-Anna), and ran to Belknap and back.

Neither of us ran this week. I tried a bit on Friday, but didn’t get too far. Luckily, we were able to finish the 16-miler. We loved running this trail. It felt good to run a softer surface. There are extremely small rock fragments over dirt. And, there were mile markers on the trail! The scenery was also nice. We started off seeing corn fields, ran over several bridges, through a tunnel, saw some horses, ran next to the Cache River Wetlands, which looks like a bright green swamp, and close to a huge tomato garden. There was a detour and we had to run on the road. It was dangerous. A rickety car was inches away from me as it passed going about 65 miles an hour. It didn’t get over. If anything, the driver tried to get close to me to perhaps scare me. It did. I’ve had to cover too many incidents as a reporter where someone gets hurt or even killed because a driver it trying to make a point or be funny. On the way back, I ignored the detour signs and continued on the portion of the trail that was closed. I had to jump over two ravines and cross the railroad tracks. I felt much safer than if I would have had to go on the road again.

I was extremely thirsty during the run. I continuously gulped down water while I was running, and chugged it when I walked. I did a good job at keeping myself hydrated throughout the run, but I really wanted more water. At times, it felt like my heart skipped a beat and I couldn’t catch my breath. I decided to take longer walking breaks, and at one point, I probably walked for 10 minutes straight. I just couldn’t breathe well. Finally, when I was ready to run, my legs began to cramp up. Finishing was difficult. Although I could see the end of the trail, I couldn’t keep my body going. I had to walk.

During the run, I thought some of the twigs on the ground were jumping. I also thought I saw a horizontal street sign in middle of the woods. It was actually a branch of extremely bright leaves where the sun was beaming down. Other than that, my mind didn’t play many tricks on me. But I did find some of the comments from passing bicyclists annoying. Because I run faster than Patrick, I’m usually about a half to an entire mile ahead. I’m also in the zone with my music turned up loud. I kept having to pause my music and ask the bicyclist to repeat what they were yelling at me, which was always something in the neighborhood of: “Slow down, so that guy can catch up! You’re going to fast,” and so on. I kept thinking something bad happened to Patrick, and I would slow down and look back and try to see if he was alright. I love humor, but it’s distracting when you’re in middle of a 16-mile run. Why can’t they just say “Hi! Good morning!” and move on?

I finished running in 2 hours and 45 minutes. I immediately went to the car and drank a bunch of ice cold water. I ate a banana, stretched, and waited for Patrick to get done. I could tell he was in a lot of pain. I had trouble walking for the rest of the day. In fact, it’s been more than 24 hours and I’m still having trouble walking!

After our run, we got all dressed up for the Inspiring Women’s Gala at SIUC.

Sometimes, I want to give up. I think running a marathon would be nice, but could I ever complete a full marathon? And what about completing the marathon between four and five hours? Will I just give up and walk, or give up and duck into a casino? After listening to so many women talk about what’s inspired them to keep going, I felt much stronger. One woman joined the Peace Corps when she retired! I found myself thinking: “I want to be like her!”

Plus, the entire evening was extremely special. Patrick and I were invited to sit with our friends at WSIL-TV, and we had a great time together. (All of us happened to wear black dresses!) Everyone was dressed up. When I say it was fancy– I mean it. Take a look at the butter: (It’s in a shape of a flower)

And this is just a sample of what we could have for dessert:

The next day, we went on an adventure in Cairo, Illinois! I’ve been wanting to take Patrick to Cairo for some BBQ, for about two years now. Today was the perfect time to take him there. I took him “downtown” and showed him where all the hustle and bustle used to be:

We could park anywhere, get out, and do just about anything. There was no one around! Makes us wonder why there are so many stop signs?

I even showed Patrick where an entrance way used to be to a major store. Now, you can just see a little bit of the intricate tile-work where the doorway used to be. Patrick acted like the building was still there:

Then, I took him to Fort Defiance State Park, which is between two bridges; one to Kentucky and one to Missouri. It’s as low as you can go in Illinois.

After that, we had BBQ!

After all that, we were tired! And… my legs still hurt!

Lindsey suggested a great place to run for our 16 miler this weekend. I traveled down to Southern Illinois this weekend, and we woke up at a normal time and headed down to a great location about 45 minutes away. The trail was an old railroad track that’s now just a gravel road, and the trail goes from small town to small town. Our run would go from one small town to another and back again. We drove about 45 minutes south and parked at the visitor’s center in Vienna. There were lots of bicyclists, but no runners.

I was nervous about this run because I did not train AT ALL this past week, and didn’t know how miles 14, 15, and 16 would be. I was loosened up pretty good from the very beginning, and the first 5 miles were easy. About halfway through the first 8, the trail had detoured, and about 3/4 mile was on the highway. The trail had mile markers, which was nice and I didn’t have to pay attention to the watch as much.
Once I reached the town of Belknap at 8 miles, I took my first Gu and turned around to head home. By the way, this was the first time I had the chocolate Gu, and it was really good! I was taking my water/walk breaks pretty consistently, trying to make sure I had enough water when it came down to the last 4 miles or so. I didn’t have my music turned on, but after I turned around, I began to play my music to keep my momentum up.

On the way back, I had to take that detour again, and I had to stop for a few minutes to let a train pass. I stretched and made good use of the time. It was funny with me standing there while other cars were around. After I passed the “half-marathon” mark at 13 miles, my body started to wear pretty quickly, and I took my second Gu. The weather was nice the whole morning, and the trail was mostly in the shade, but the sun was coming up pretty high and the temps were rising a bit. After Mile 14, I was starting to hallucinate and my mind was drifting pretty bad. I was seeing things, like black bears chasing me and leaves in front of me looked like rodents. Then suddenly I looked up and thought I saw two deer on the trail. Then they ran away…OH there really were deer! They ran off as soon as they heard my feet on the trail.

I still had about 2 miles to go, and I had only sipfuls of water left (as expected), but my legs were started to become stiff. I kept thinking “only 20 more minutes” and started to take sporadic walk breaks. I walked for about 4 or 5 minutes before I realized I wasn’t getting there any faster. When I saw the 126 mile marker (which meant about 1 1/2 miles left) I said, “just run it”, and I did it. I didn’t stop running all the way to the end, no matter how much my legs hurt and no matter how much I was hallucinating. I made that last turn and saw the end of the road, and that last strip of trail felt like FOREVER. It must’ve took 5 or 6 minutes to finally get there. I made it 9 seconds under 3 hours. I was hoping for a better time…maybe 15 minutes faster, but I don’t know. Who’s to say what the real mileage was with that detour and all.

At the end, I just stopped and bent over, trying to catch as much air as I could. I saw Lindsey at the picnic table trying to recover and I walked over to the trunk and got my water and just gulped like it was my last. I went into the Vienna visitor’s center and washed my face and got my cloth wet. Those last 2 miles were tough, and I believe it’s all because I did not train at all this week.

So now I have motivation to get each and every run in from now until the marathon.

Later that evening, Lindsey invited me to an “Inspiring Women’s Gala” event at SIUC in Carbondale, IL (which is where I recorded this video)

The next day Lindsey and I visited Cairo, Illinois, and it was so fascinating seeing such a vibrant town decay over the decades. We ate at Shemwell’s Barbecue, which was the best barbecue pork sandwich I’ve ate in a long long time. We also went to the most southern point of Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

It’s October now, and the weather should be in the upper 60s, and today’s high was over 90 degrees. So, like it was in the summer, we got up early to beat the heat. We ran our 15 miles on a Sunday instead of Saturday. Let’s just say I had “one little drink” on Friday night (a 46 oz margarita) on an empty stomach, and when I got up early Saturday morning to run, it didn’t turn out too well, so we waited until the next day. Lindsey wasn’t feeling well either, but hers was stress-induced. The runners were late starters, too. The Saturday morning runners are on the go before we even get there usually, but on Sundays, they must sleep in a little bit, because there was a surge of runners about 5 miles into our run.

The run at Forest Park today was running almost to the 2-mile marker, then turning around and running the entire park twice. I had added/deleted some of the music in my MP3 player, which helped me tremendously on this run. After all this time, I was finally able to figure out the shuffle mode DUH. One of the tracks I liked today was Alcazar’s “This Is The World We Live In“, which for some reason gave me goosebumps. And running with goosebumps is a strange feeling…it’s like you can feel your skeleton separate from your skin. Anybody’s who’s been through it knows what I’m saying…

The run was really good for me. At first the humidity was tough, sweating a lot during the first 4 miles, but then once I got in the groove, it was steady. My 20/2 pacing has been going great for almost every run. (That’s 20 minutes of running, 2 minutes of walking). That puts me at 2 miles per break. Even when running these long runs, I’m able to keep it up, so I think my training will continue to go well and I’ll most likely run the marathon at that pacing.

I ran out of water about 2 miles towards the end, but that was ok. Even though it was getting warm fast, I was able to finish without stopping for a fountain. I kept thinking of my big Fruit Punch Gatorade chilling in the back of my Explorer the whole time.

At the end of the run, I stopped abruptly and as I started to walk back towards the Visitor’s Center, I almost got nailed by a bicyclist. Everyone escaped uninjured, but it was close. I think it was both our faults. I should have looked back before crossing and I know I was a little out of it having run 15, but they should know that people tend to stop at the 0 mile marker, and they didn’t yell “LEFT” before passing.

Once I walked in the Visitor’s Center, I went straight into the bathrooms and doused my face with water and drank right from the sink. Then I came out and saw Lindsey eating her banana at the table. I drank my Gatorade and changed my soaked shirt, then after looking around at some of the visitors center, we went back home and took a nice shower.

We treated ourselves to Red Robin, and We avoided napping at all costs (since that’s a bad thing after a big run), and we’re now blogging.

Conditions: 78-84 degrees, humid at first.
Results: today: 15 miles; time: 2:36:57; pace: 10:27
Thoughts: The longer I run, the more comfortable I am with the 20/2 pacing.
What I’ll remember the most: Drinking that 64-oz bottle of Gatorade.

It’s 2:30 p.m. and I’m extremely tired. Patrick and I decided (or had no choice) to run on Sunday. We both felt very sick on Saturday and had to postpone the run. We both had very trying weeks. I only ran about three miles the entire week because I was so busy and stressed. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish today’s 15 miler because I didn’t get in my practice runs. But, I did it!

Patrick woke up at 5 a.m. He used several different methods to get me to wake up, including beating on a tambourine. That helped me get into a good mood, but I was still nervous about running. We got to the park around 7 a.m. and ran the first four miles together. I thought I was going to give up. My knees and my feet didn’t hurt, but it was a struggle to keep going. After about seven miles I felt great.

I found my mind wondering while I ran. At times I would find myself thinking, “how did I get here? I don’t remember passing the Planetarium or the stables.” I lucked out when it came to traffic. There were minimal cars and I hit all the green lights– or little blinking signs that looked like people encouraging me to walk.

Unlike Saturdays, there were very few runners. And almost no one said hello. My music gave me encouragement. Then, after a lap and a half, I saw Patrick. He decided to run the last lap the opposite direction of myself. We waved and even high-fived when we saw each other which helped keep me going. The last two miles were horrendous.

I didn’t think I could finish, but I knew the faster I ran, the sooner I’d be done. I just kept pushing it. I found myself praying for my Yia Yia who is in the hospital, and for Patrick’s niece who is having some medical issues. I also prayed that I would be done running soon. I could see the finish line (aka, some bushes, the racquetball courts and a Band-Aide pasted to the ground. Okay, I couldn’t see the Band-Aide, but I knew it was there.)

As soon as I was done, I felt very emotional. Patrick told me about mile 14. Apparently mile 14 is a very difficult mile to get through. I went through it just fine, but as soon as I was done, it caught up with me. I couldn’t catch my breath. I stumbled to the Visitor’s Center and gulped down some cold water from the fountain. I was heading to the bathroom when I felt faint. I thought I might tumble over. I even saw stars. I had to hunch down and try to catch my breath. I still couldn’t.

I went into the restroom and washed my hands and face with cold water. I was still breathing very heave and a woman in a stall asked me if I was alright. I told her I was fine, I had just ran a very long way. She said, “okay.” I went to the car and got my water bottle. I stretched and ate a banana. Finally, I could breath again. I grabbed the water, the bananas, and some bagels and headed back to the Visitor’s Center to wait for Patrick. We cooled down for nearly 45 minutes in there before going home.

Then we went to my favorite place! Red Robin’s. The only bad thing is they don’t have their nutrition information online. But after running 15 miles, it doesn’t really matter. All we care about is an endless bowl of fries with mayo-bbq dipping sauce, and juicy gourmet burgers with glasses of ice water. It was a great day!

So, I didn’t run 10 miles. I was supposed to, and thought I did, but I didn’t. Here’s what happened: we ran a different way on the trail at Creve Coeur Park. Because there are several trails, it’s easy to go on the wrong one. That’s what happened. Instead of running 10 miles, I may have only run nine. And the worst part happened during the run. A certain stretch of the trail is on rock. If I don’t look down, I could trip. I was finding the run difficult, so I looked up at the leaves falling off the trees above. It happened. I tripped and rolled on my ankle. I wasn’t sure how bad I was hurt, but it went numb right away. I tried to take it easy for the rest of the run. Afterwards, I realized it was sprained very bad and I’ll have to stay off of it for a while until I recover. I hope it’s better in time for next week’s run.

At least I got my snow cone:

This is the best run ever! Patrick and I got to Forest Park in the morning. It wasn’t as early as we would have liked, but the temperature was in the high 40s, low 50s, during the run. We were freezing! Shortly after we began running, I took off. I didn’t see Patrick again until he was finished running. Right before we started, Patrick told me to run around the park once, and then one more time for a “victory lap.” When the run started to get tough, I just imagined that I was already done and I was just running down the streets of Vegas to let everyone know I was a winner. It was easy to imagine, because after running that long I started losing my mind a bit.

There is one very bad intersection at the park where cars just get off the highway and then are supposed to stop at a light. My brain wasn’t thinking correctly because I was so focused on running, so I found myself running across the road while vehicles were coming. I knew the lights had just changed, but I couldn’t comprehend what they had changed to. Someone honked at me. Still, I have no idea whether it was safe to run or not. I have to keep in mind to really think about what is going on around me when I run very long distances.

I was extremely tired when I was done, but I was still cold. It was very breezy during the run, and I ended up trying to warm up in the car. Patrick and I bought bananas and bagels beforehand, and when the run was almost complete, I could already taste the banana. The bagel tasted soooooo good! I can’t wait for next week. We’ll be running a half marathon next week.

After the run, we went back home and picked up my best friend Jane who was staying with us for her weekend vacation. We all went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for our cheat meal. This is one of my favorite places because it’s in a historic building on Laclede’s Landing downtown.

After that, we took a brewery tour at the history Anheuser Busch building. I was happy to learn the tour was free (as was two beers at the end of the tour. Although they were almost out of everything by the time it was our turn to drink. I asked them how they could be out of beer? Kinda weird that a brewery would run out.) We had a great time, but after a few sips I really wasn’t all that interested in drinking. I did get to sample some beers I’ve never tried, but after working out in the morning, my body didn’t want anything unhealthy.

That night, Patrick made hamburgers on the grill, and we also made some s’mores on the chimenea.

Wow! What a difficult workout! The hills hurt my legs and I know I won’t be able to walk tomorrow, but that’s alright. I’d rather get in a hardy run and be more than ready for the marathon.

After today’s run, Patrick and I ate at Booby’s on the Carbondale Strip! It’s always been our favorite sandwich place since I was in college.

Later that night, we went to the Cascade of Colors at Carbondale’s Southern Illinois Airport.
Here are our pics: