20 Miles The good the bad and the Ugly!

I ran my first 20 miler this past Monday and it was good, it was bad but most importantly it was accomplished!

A little reflection on my 20 mile race is

1) Pace yourself! Even if you are feeling great try not to speed up. Now this was my first 20 miles ever!!! So it was a learning experience.

2) Eat a good breakfast before hand! I had 2 pieces of cinnamon raisin bread with crunchy Pb and some walden farms syrup. Or as I like to call it. “bootleg French toast”!
I also hydrated with half a bottle of Gatorade mixed with a full half liter of water.

3) Sour patch kids. Yes you heard me correctly! I received this tip from one of the Nike Run Pacers. I had run out of shock blocks and didn’t want to wait for the store I usually get them from to open. So, I bought a small bag of watermelon sour patch and stuck them in my runner waist pack! It is sugar and carbs and a great substitute if you run out of your preferred energy source. my favorite are The Cliff Bar shock blocks in strawberry, fruit punch, or margarita.

This run was awesome and a breeze….for the first 14 miles. Then I think I might of hit what they call “The Wall”. I was fatigued, one of my glutes was in pain and I was thinking, “I chose to do this. I signed up for this. I paid money to put myself through this. My legs might detach at the hip joints and leave me, because they are tired. How will I ever add another 6.2 miles on to this???”

After a nice foam roll. And just laying under the shower I realized I felt like crap but it wasn’t the end of the world. So I know what sucky feels like and I still pushed through it. Which means I can push through for this Marathon as well. One should always reflect on a past experience we perceive as the worst experience ever!! Just kidding. But it was the feeling I had at that moment. The sense of victory and accomplishment was so much more fulfilling then I could of imagined. I can’t wait to see what the Marathon brings me. T- 9 days!!!