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.
Thanks to Hurricane Erin, we’re getting some showers and wind today. It’s not often we’re affected in St. Louis by hurricanes, but this one traveled right up the midwest and is dying out as it’s pushing through our area. It was much cooler and overcast all day. I ran right after work, and it was pretty windy, enough to make me wonder if it was slowing down my run. About a mile into the run, it started raining, and it was off and on the rest of the way. Nothing too hard, nothing too stormy…just a nice wet rain. Felt great, actually. I don’t mind running in the rain. I just don’t want my mp3 player to short out on me.
Conditions: 82 degrees, rain.
Results: today: 3 miles; shoe miles: 50; time: 30:43; pace: 10:14
Thoughts: Glad I wore my running gear that whisks away water! Wearing cotton today would’ve slowed me down from weighing so much!
What I’ll remember the most: Trying to wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the rain.
Finally!!! Temperatures were under 90 degrees! In fact, we began our 5-mile run at 7:30 a.m., and it was only 75 degrees! We started out at the Visitor’s Center just like last time, and then ran the entire park. We stopped a little bit short because the park is 5.6 miles around.
I put my headphones on at the beginning of the run and listened to some Bobby Darin music. I didn’t hear or say “Good Morning,” because my music was on. After a mile, I took my headphones off and started to say “Hi,” which made the run a bit nicer.
I tried to keep up with Patrick because I wanted to run the entire park without stopping. I’m a better runner when I run fast and then take a walking break. After getting about half the park done, I decided to take off. I found this run quite difficult and I’m not sure why. I actually find it easier to run in extreme heat. I think it’s because I push myself hard to finish faster when it’s hot. I have the mind set, “The faster I run, the sooner I’ll be done.”
Because it was so nice in the morning, I wanted to walk, relax, and take in the atmosphere. I just didn’t want to run. And, I couldn’t think of anything to think about. Usually I think about one particular subject which occupies me through the run. On this morning, I could only think about wanting to have something interesting to think about. Besides enjoying the beauty of the park, the run started out boring.
I also started to know the layout of the park, which means I knew what to expect. It makes the run seem longer when I know just how much further I have to run. People on bikes were passing me up so fast. I had to keep an eye to make sure I didn’t get run over. The park was quite packed.
I was also in pain almost the entire run. Everything hurt. My right ankle hurt first, and then my calf. My shoulder hurt during the middle of the run. I had a headache near the end. My left big toe was in extreme pain. I didn’t get any cramping though. That was nice. I was just really happy– and tired– when the run was over.
Then, it was onto Six Flags. We were taking Patrick’s sister Ellen and his niece Erin to the park as Ellen’s birthday present. Erin was afraid of many of the rides, so she ended up waiting for us and waving the whole time. But she enjoyed herself. Her favorite ride was the Scooby-Doo ride and the bumper cars. Ellen and Patrick loved Mr. Freeze. I love the Buccaneer, which is now– sadly– called the Joker. It was so much more of a thrill when it felt like the entire ride was going to fall apart. Now it’s all safe. Bummer.
The entire experience made us miss Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. I did find the rides and some of features of the shopping better. Although Six Flags had entertainment shows, we didn’t have enough time to see them. Even if I enjoyed the rides, while standing in line I kept thinking about the price of all the merchandise, food, and even parking. And, if people are sick of standing in line, at Six Flags, they could pay $ 25 extra and jump the line. So much for teaching kids about patience.
Here’s a comparison:
Admission:
$ 44.99, Six Flags
$ 37.95, Holiday World
Parking:
$ 15 per car, Six Flags
Free, Holiday World
Sodas:
$ 9.50 and $ 1 per refill, Six Flags
Free, Holiday World
Water:
$ 4, Six Flags
Free, Holiday World
Suntan Lotion:
Bring your own, Six Flags
Free suntan lotion stations, Holiday World
Food:
Around $10 a person for a burger and fries, Six Flags
About $5 a person for a burger, fries and a cookie, Holiday World
To Get In:
Go through medal detectors, get bags inspected, have an endless amount of people trying to sell you trips, Six Flags
Just go in, Holiday World
If Holiday World were closer, we would have gone there. It would have been a 3-hour drive one way and that would have been too long to take the girls. Although at Six Flags, I felt like I got a work out. We couldn’t find some the entrances to the rides, so we kept walking around and got a real workout. But after running 5 miles in the morning, I would have rather had more of a relaxing day. We did have fun. The girls will be talking about it for months to come.
For our cheat meal, we ate at Johnny Rockets in the park. Patrick and I had double-cheese burgers with fries. It was so hot and what was horrible is that there was no air conditioning or fans while we were trying to eat. We wanted a shake, but they were six bucks a piece. And we couldn’t find bathrooms. We ate our food without washing our hands. EEEWWW! You think they would have been requires to put a bathroom INSIDE the eating facility. We walked around for about five minutes after our meal looking for them. We finally found bathrooms about 400 feet away.
We ended up eating Dippin’ Dots at the end of the day. I got my wonderful chocolate mint, and Patrick had Cookies and Cream. By the end of the day, we were tired. We ended up falling to sleep pretty early. We can’t wait to get the pictures printed from our day at Six Flags and give a copy to the girls and Patrick’s mom.
Since it’s so hot this week, I decided to wait until sunset to do my running. I just can’t do the treadmill thing anymore. The temps were around 90 degrees, so it was much cooler than earlier in the day. The evening brought a lot of humidity, but I like that. I’ve always enjoyed working in humid conditions instead of sunny conditions.
My calves hurt earlier this morning, still recovering from the 8-miler on Saturday, but by the time I ran, they felt great. The 3-miler in Fenton Park was cool tonight, because the park’s baseball fields, tennis courts and basketball courts are all lit up. The park doesn’t close until 11:00pm, so I think I’ll enjoy coming here in the evening to do my runs. And there’s plenty of people around, so it’s interesting people watching.
I purchased a new mp3 player and used it for the first time tonight. It’s the Creative MuVo V100. It’s a 2GB player/USB port.
I’ve always liked Creative’s products, and this one is no exception. I bought a Zen Vision a while back, and was strapping it on my arm when I ran, but that mp3 player has a hard drive in it, which constantly spins, whereas this one is flash based, so there’s no moving parts. Plus this one’s the size of a domino, where as the other one is a big larger than a deck of cards. I liked having this in my pocket while I ran. I enjoyed the freedom of not having anything velcroed to my arm!
Anyways, back to the run….I ran the whole 3 miles non-stop and came in under 30 minutes, which is an improvement. I also spent a lot of time stretching, which I don’t normally do. I watched this video on YouTube, and it helped with my stretching after the run.
My left big toe still hurts from last Saturday, and it’s gonna be that way the whole training period, since it’s bruised under the nail. Well, that’s what they say…runners lose nails…here we go. Oh well.
The temps are expected to be at 103 tomorrow, so I may wait until past sunset to do my run. I’m excited again though! Can’t wait to lose some weight!
