Jan 20, 2008

last long run

i waited till mother nature warmed things up a bit & headed out for my last long run in 11 degree weather. not so warm in the grand scheme of things. but when you wake up and its 7 out, its all relative. after the first three miles of thinking my fingers would freeze and fall off, along with my vaseline covered face; it wasn't so bad. i left the house smiling, grinning from ear to ear. the sun was shining and that makes everything better and i just had that feeling it was going to be a good run. so there was that general feeling of run-goodness, and then stepping out the door just as plan b theme song comes on tiny shuffle doesn't hurt. i ran by a little gym at one point and saw everyone on the treadmills, i wanted to say - bundle up, come outside. its not so bad. bundling up was definitely the key to happiness. as far as food and fueling, i brought two clementines with me, but threw one into a bush at mile 2 when i realized i needed to be able to stretch my hands and wiggle my fingers to make sure they were still there. and while i've been able to peel and eat on the run every other time, i had to stop in a coffee shop at mile 4 to have my first - and now only, clementine. i couldn't bear the thought of taking my gloves off to eat a cold, wet piece of fruit. my husband met me at the park at mile 9 1/2 with a banana. he usually throws fruit out the car window at a pre-arranged spot, but he said he'd wait for me to make sure i hadn't succumbed to any hypothermia. and by that point, i had actually gotten hot and peeled some layers off for him to take home. there was a point though, with about 2 miles to go that the happiness was gone. my ass had gotten so cold i wondered how i was even moving forward. my legs felt like blocks of ice. but it was like being on auto pilot. i just kept going forward. cause forward meant home. pancakes. coffee. hot shower. fireplace. and having the plan b theme song miraculously come on again 16 miles later as i crossed the street at our neighborhood coffee shop to kick it in for the last 3 blocks home was the perfect way to end my last long run.

so that's it. my last long run of plan b. there's two more sunday runs. three weeks from today i'll be in birmingham, ready for 26.2. my ducks are lined up. the food and fueling experiments have been conducted. the squares in the schedule are getting crossed off. the shit hard ass-kicking schedule didn't kill me. i'm still here. while i was dissapointed at never having gotten faster on the mile repeats, i felt much better when i was told that wasn't the point. i've never had back to back mile repeats and i've never trained for back to back marathons either. i think i came through okay.

20 days and counting.
almost there.

14 comments:

Gotta Run..... said...

I love it!! Can you imagine what the people in the gym must have thought? here comes this crazy lady running down the street with 5 layers or clothes and something shiny on her face.

You rocked your last plan B long run. Way to go!!

What a great day! Not long to go.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, you must be getting SOOO excited! I'm sending all my good karma vibes your way.

Vickie said...

I'll do the countdown with you! I'm surprised your food didn't freeze. I've had that before. And yes, I did put the vaseline layer on my face. I have to be careful with vaseline though because I actually get burned on a sunny day, no matter how cold! My mask is pretty good. It doesn't fog things up too badly, but my hair gets soaked and freezes. I had to wear a hood yesterday though because of that. I hadn't ever thought of anything on the skin of my legs! I'll try that. By the time I get all greased up to run, I'll be cooking in my clothes! The only thing that keeps my butt warm is my "Barney" coat with the hood and butt flap. I've had this thing for 12 years and I haven't found anything to compare yet. Anyway, good job getting the run done. I will try to go farther again next week!

zanne said...

butt flap. that's what i need! there was a point where i was indeed cooking - i asked my husband at the park what the temp was - i was convinced it had climbed to a balmy 25 or 30! imagine my surpise when he said 11!it was still just 11. all the layers & all the lube made for a good run.

Holden said...

We're ready! Is Birmingham ready?! It better be! We will come in from the North and kick ass... again!

Anonymous said...

You really are gonna do great here in the 'Ham. Congrats on a great last long run and boy, do i love clementines!! Let me know if you need help getting around town when you are here!

. said...

Wow... I can't imagine trying to go out training in conditions like that. Fair play to you. I'm proud that I can make it out in the pissings of rain and wind (and even then I have a good moan first) but freezing temperatures is a whole other story!

I find now counting down the training runs rather than the days really satisfying... probably because there's less... keep up the great work.

house on hill road said...

you are crazy. the good inspirational crazy. i knew you were running outside - just knew it. so i gave up on going to lakeside and bundled up myself. mind you, i only had 4 miles on the schedule and it was 18 when i left. but i did it because i thought if suzanne can do it, so can i. thanks.

Unknown said...

You're ready!! Congrats... and ENJOY the taper. :)

Nancy said...

You are nutty. But I am so excited for you. Plan B, ducks in a row.... you're going to do great!!

RunToTheFinish said...

you are friggin amazing. Here I was whining about getting from like the car to the gym.

Amy@RunnersLounge said...

Great job on your run! This cold is really getting to me - but your post (at least the first half) was getting me jazzed to go out and do some more cold miles.

monicac2 said...

Wow. Can I just be you (she who kicks ass and has ramped up her training and is ready to smash her upcoming race) and errr... some crazy person can be me (she who had a three-month cold and can barely run 7 miles now in ideal weather, let alone anything below 50 degrees)?

Frayed Laces said...

I am so excited for you! I believe the first time I read your blog was the race report of your last marathon, and I thought "wow. what a kick-butt girl". You are gonna shine in B'ham!