Filed under: Cheat Meal, Lindsey, Long Runs, Road-Running, Travel, pain, video, water bottle
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!
Filed under: Cheat Meal, Long Runs, bugs, hills, hot, patrick, toenail, video, water bottle
Lindsey and I are getting better at waking up early on Saturdays for our long runs. I’m sure knowing the heat is coming really helps, because by about 10:30, it really gets hot! The high temps this past week have been in the 100s! After getting up, having some breakfast and driving about 30 minutes to the course, we arrived around 7:30.
Lindsey picked out the place to run, since I drove to Southern Illinois this weekend. We were going to run around Murphysboro Lake, which is about 4 miles around, and since this is a 7-miler, we will run around the park almost twice, saving the last mile for a good walk/warm down. Little did I know that the location was FULL of hills!
The trail was beautiful and peaceful. The road was wide and covered with tall trees most of the way. There were a few people fishing with their boats, and a couple walkers. We weren’t sure how the trail would go, other than it was the road around the park, so we just kept on the main road, and did fine. My GPS unit worked until about a mile, then all the trees around caused me to lose connection with the satellite.
When Lindsey and I ran together, we had a few “interruptions” with bugs, specifically small horseflies. They really buzzed around us when there was shade, and I killed one on Lindsey’s butt while running. The hills came upon us so quickly, and they were pretty steep in a couple places. We tackled them pretty hard and were successful. It felt like the hills never ended. Right before the end of the first 4 miles, we ran across a small dam/bridge, and looking over at the lake was gorgeous. In my mind, I felt like I was in one of those professional posters where the guy is running across the lake and there’s some big saying about motivation or serenity…but really I knew all it looked like was a big fat guy sweating his ass off trying to just be done with it.
Lindsey arrived at the end of the first lap, and as I was coming down the hill, she handed me my water bottle that was placed under the” Smokey The Bear” sign. Here we go again, but this time, we ran the course in reverse. I carried my water bottle with me the whole second lap. The horseflies were really expecting us now, and miles 5 & 6 were bad…I was bit by one enough to really feel the pain, and it stung for a good mile before I was able to ignore it.
On the second lap, I just couldn’t handle the hills. I would start, but then end up taking my walk about halfway. These were the steepest hills I’ve ever trained on. And on the flipside, on the downhill slopes, I had to gradually pick up speed to take them on, otherwise I would have fell forward. I could feel my hamstrings kicking in on the downhills. I think my legs really got a workout today.
I had made a mental mark on where Mile 7 was, but it wasn’t a clear mark, and so when I passed it, I wasn’t sure it was really the right place. And Lindsey was about 4 minutes ahead of me, so I lost track of her mostly through the second lap. I just kept running as best as I could, and then suddenly the “Smokey The Bear” sign showed up, and BAM! I ran 8 miles, not 7!
I was so proud of Lindsey, she did very well, beating my time by 4 minutes. She was so energized from the run, she was saying she could run another lap. I was whipped, but felt great. And knowing the next couple big weekend runs will be smaller feels good. I can’t wait to run 7 again, and next time I’m hoping it will be easy. I did bruise underneath my big toe on my left foot. Going down the hills made my toenail squish against the front of the shoe, and it bruised it pretty bad. I think I’ll lose that nail in a couple months. It’s a throbbing pain right now, and it’s starting to turn blue (fun, huh?)
Happy Birthday, baby! Can’t wait to eat Fujiyama Steakhouse tonight!
Conditions: 78 degrees, cooler, shady, clear skies.
Results: today: 8 miles; total: 32 miles; time: 1:38:14; pace: 12:16
Thoughts: I need to stick to a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday schedule during the week. It really helps. I can’t wait for the weather to be cooler, so I can do all my runs outside.
What I’ll remember the most: Those damn hills.
