All day yesterday I could tell I was coming down with something. I was dreading this 20 miler anyway and now I was scared that I couldn't finish it. At 8:30 last night I took some Nyquil and went to bed. I woke up at seven this morning my head was in a fog and I couldn't breath out of my nose. I decided just to go for it I didn't have a fever I just didn't feel well. I kept saying if Smooth can run in a snow storm I can run with a cold. By mile 3 my head had cleared and I really didn't fell any effects of the cold.
This is how the course that I decided to run looks like with the splits: .5 miles gradual down hill .5 miles steep down hill - 9:15
3 miles gradual down hill - 9:00, 8:49, 9:00 - After this mile potty break, ate three power bar gels drank Gatorade
2 miles rolling hills mostly down hill - 9:03, 8:37
2.5 miles gradual down hill - 9:05, 8:49 After the 9:05 mile a water break and 3 gels
1 mile gradual up hill - 8:40
.5 steep up hill - 8:46 - three more gels Gatorade
turn around and every thing is reversed. .5 steep down hill - 8:55 1 mile gradual down hill - 8:55 2.5 miles gradual up hill - 9:08, 9:02 - Water break 3 more gels I was going to buy some doughnuts in honor of Maynard but they just looked gross, I could force myself to do it.
2 miles rolling hills mostly up hill - 9:19, 8:42
3 miles gradual up hill - 8:56, 8:33, 8:16 - I am feeling really good at this point and I want to push these
three miles. I tell myself that I can take a break after each mile for
30 seconds. I am not sure if it would have been better to keep going
at the end of each mile at a slower pace but it really felt good to
push the miles. On the last mile I knew I couldn't match the 7:32 from last week because this mile is up hill and Smooth was not here to race, but I really wanted to push it. I kept saying run until you puke or get to the Texico sign, I didn't puke but I wanted to.
.5 steep up hill .5 gradual up hill 9:47 - I walked a lot of this mile but pushed the last half mile more than most days.
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