I almost titled this blog post "I am so awesome" but realized that I have already titled a blog post "I am so awesome". It must be a remarkable new feeling that I am recognizing it over and over.
I lost my phone this week. It fell off my bed and the touch screen became unresponsive and I wen to Verizon Wireless and, long story short, was phone-less for about 48 hours. Not a huge deal, but the wild goose chase that I had to go on to track it down via FedEx (and let me tell you, everything feels harder when you don't have a phone!), I never updated from my Friday morning 6 mile run. Which was great, aside from not having slept enough the night before... but that's another story. ANd not very interesting. 6 miles, it was good.
But today I did 11 miles. Now 11 is the longest I've ever run on my own. Obviously I did the 13.1 of the Half Marathon, but running is a race is a totally different phenomenon than running alone. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of people, that are encouraging you by their cheers or their participation with you. Generally race pace is faster, just because of adrenaline and excitement.
The DBF and I came out to the beach house last night, and his sister (I guess we could call her my Dear Sister of my Boyfriend? What's that The DSomBF?) was out here as well. Really nice to all spend some time together. Her boyfriend sadly wasn't around, because he's a great guy, but the three of us had a great night, grilling some of my CSA organic veggies on the grill and playing Fluxx. If you don't own this game, you have to go out and find it. I got my copy at Barnes and Noble, but the link above goes to Amazon. It is seriously the best game to just have on hand. It doesn't take up any space, you can play with 2 players or pretty much as many as you can think of, and it's always fun. I was riding high from caffeine overdose during the day, and we stayed up playing until after midnight, and shortly thereafter I crashed and fell asleep.
One of the reasons I started running was because it was a low-cost, easy sport. Didn't require much thought. Just clothes (which I had), and an iPod for sanity (which I had). The ridiculous thing is, now that I'm falling in love with the sport, I'm up to my ears in accessories. There's the speciality shoes with insoles; the Nike+ to track and follow my runs (both the iPod attachment and the shoe bit); my heart rate monitor strap and watch to check my exertion and calories burned; my SPI belt for putting money, chapstick, whatever; running visor; running sunglasses; and of course speciality running clothes for whicking, cooling, breathing whatever. So when we go to the beach and I have a run planned it suddenly becomes a bit of an escapade.
And of course I forget something. This time I forgot two things. The various components to my Nike+ (not so vital, but kind of a bummer), and my GU gels. I only use GU gels on runs that will be longer than an hour, and then I take them approximately every 45 minutes, if I believe I will be running for another 30-45 past that point. Today was a scheduled 11 mile run. Since I ran the half marathon just at 10 minute pace and my training has been consistent with that, I plan on 10 minutes per mile. So 11 miles becomes about an hour and 50 minutes. That's at least one GU, maybe even two.
Not vital, I suppose. But also realized once we got here that I don't know where any water fountains are, and there might not be any. Water is vital, especially when it's 80+ degrees. (And yet another thing I really need to think about adding to my list of running stuff, one of THESE...) So sans Nike+ to approximate my distance and speed, and sans any kind of hydration/supplement, I set out this morning to go 55 minutes out and then 55 minutes back, just assuming that I would pass a gas station or two and would fuel up as I went.
Sadly, I didn't pass a gas station at all, until I got to 60 minutes in, and then it was more convenient to just pop into the Duane Reade convenience store. I grabbed some sort of Electrolyte Sport Drink and a Kind Bar. Took about a 5 minute break to eat the bar and drink a little, then set off on my return trip, drink in hand. I immediately felt better, but it was still noticeable to me that I was suffering a bit for lack of supplements. Maybe I have trained my body to "need" them, but maybe they're just really that necessary.
The interesting part is I stopped at Beach 116th Street, which happens to have a 9/11 Memorial because, from what I can gather, at that spot one could see the AA Flight 587 crash into the water. It would have been nice to maybe take some more time to look around, but i was on a roll and also wanted to get back. Maybe next time we're out here I'll plan my trip accordingly.
All in all, I finished around 1:53, so that gives me about a 10:16 minute pace to the 11 miles I tracked by mapping out my run online. I was pretty slow heading out and really picked up the pace back, and I am happily sitting on the front porch writing this blog, trying to rehydrate post-shower. The DBF is playing a round of golf (which he totally needs and deserves... he's been working way too hard lately and needs some play time, and some alone time! Yay, two birds with one stone!). The DSomBF is doing some work, and I think I may take a little nap... 20 minutes or so. Still haven't caught up from my night of barely 3 hours of sleep. The clouds are looking a little menacing, but I think it's still a wonderful day to be out here at the beach.
Nap time. :)
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