Trying to Outrun Mother Nature for 14 Miles

Before I get into my ridiculous challenge and all of its foibles, I'd like to give a super special shout-out to the guy in his car at mile 11. I thought was kindly slowing down to let me cross at a cross walk, but he was really rolling down his window to yell, "You are slow as shit". I'm sure it took a lot of effort to do that,  and perhaps you got frostbite from the quick exposure to the elements.

Last night (and into early this morning), I did my long run for the weekend. It was a training run of 14 miles, and while I ended up finishing in a snail's pace that a small toddler could probably beat, at least I finished it. And considering how much miles 10 through 14 sucked, finishing was half of the battle.

Why was I running 14 miles on a Friday night instead of during the day like a normal person? I asked myself that a lot last night, but it was really a question of simple logistics. See, all of the lovely weather people were predicting that a storm would hit this area around midnight on Friday night and go on until Saturday morning, with 1-3 inches of snow accumulating. Not that much, but considering that I had originally been planning on doing my long run Saturday at 6 am, during the middle of the storm, that was kind of out the window. I briefly toyed with running on Sunday, but was worried about ice, so I made the rash decision on Friday afternoon to squeeze my run in on Friday night just ahead of the storm.

And I mean JUST ahead of the storm. I got home at 7:15 and I knew that by the time I got everything together to run for several hours, I'd be pushing that midnight deadline. Allotting myself about 15 minutes per mile at a long training pace. The whole point of running a longer distance than the half marathon BEFORE the half marathon, is to increase endurance and get your body prepared for running insane amounts of time. Well, consider my body prepared. The books I've read said that you cannot possibly do these runs too slow, and they are more about completing the task than setting land speed records. Good thing, because after a hard training session on Thursday night with Basil, followed by my extra hard power yoga class and walking around NYC all day with high-heeled boots on, speed was far from the realm of my possibility. If I'd known I was doing this run without a full 24 hours of recuperation, I might have worn my Uggs and skipped training the night before. Or at the very least gone to bed at a reasonable time so I'd bank some energy.

So I got home, bundled up in all my lovely winter night running gear (reflector strap, running gloves, protein bar, headphones, warm socks) and headed out at 8 PM (the super sexy look got some strange glares in my lobby). The first mile was slow as my legs were warming up, but at a nice 45 degrees it wasn't that bad. By mile 2, I was in the zone. Sure it was a challenge having to stay on the sidewalks so I didn't get run down by maniacal Jersey drivers. And the constant up/down of the curbs put some extra pressure on my legs. And sure, having spots with no street lights and fumbling to turn my headlamp on so I didn't trip and kill myself slowed my down. But I would say that for Mile 2- 8, I actually ran probably 5.5 of the six miles. I was cooking along, only taking quick breaks to adjust something or grab some wheat thins to keep my salt/sugar levels up (something I've been having issues with).

I started slowing down around Mile 9, and sent my friend Maryanne a Facebook message saying that I shouldn't have had that iced coffee. Since I'm not Snooki, and can't just pee anywhere (particularly in a residential neighborhood), I was forced to try and hold it. Running basically with my legs crossed.

But at Mile 11, shortly after the charming young man spewed out his really encouraging words, something odd happened. My legs just froze up. While I had packed gloves to keep my hands warm, and those little air operated "hot pockets" to stuff in my jacket, I didn't anticipate my legs just freezing up on my totally. I walked up a hill (because really, I'm just not at a point in my training where I can run up them at any sort of speed) and then couldn't get them moving again at a running pace that was more than a shuffle. I knew the temperature drop would be a problem, but this wasn't the problem I'd prepared for. I normally run in the mornings, so while it may start out freezing ass cold, usually it warms up a few degrees and the running gets my blood flowing, so by the end of my run my legs are quite toasty. But here, because it was 45 when I started and 37 by the time I hit the wall, my legs just felt like popsicle sticks.

So I ran-walked for as long as I could and then about mile 12.5, it turned into just walk-walk, and by mile 13.5, I was lucky that it was in an upright position. By then, everything was cold (aside from my ears in my toasty headphone/earmuffs). I just wanted to be home and in bed, and at close to midnight, this seemed like a reasonable request. And to make make matters worse, the forecasted weather was closing in tight, with some very icy raindrops hitting me in the face. But.... I made it home to a nice cup of tea and warm shower.

Was my pace last night fast enough to keep me away from those pesky Disney dwarves (or whomever is going to scoop me up in a golf cart)? Nope. I'd have been almost 10 minutes over the drop-dead allotment of time. Do I think that last night's run is indicative of how I'll perform come race day? Nope. While a year ago I'd have been negative and presumed that the fact that running 14 miles in nearly four hours was the end of the world, today I'm positive I'll be a lot faster and complete it in my under 3 hour goal. As I'll be running in the morning, in FLORIDA, and won't have had a gallon of water and Venti iced coffee beforehand. I will also be running on a smooth surface, without the curbs and obstacles of stop lights and douchey Jersey natives to contend with. And I'm sure that I'll feed off the energy from the people around me. There's no way that I won't smile when I see Cinderella. Plus, I know that I've run a mile in under 11 minutes before (lightening fast for me), and while that isn't sustainable for 13.1 miles, it is possible and even conceivable that I can do a lot better given more optimum weather conditions.

So far I've trained on hills, in sub 20 degree weather, on an awful treadmill, at night in February and in the rain. Anything Florida has to throw at me should be a piece of cake. And even better? Last night's run is my last long run before the big race. Now all I've got is some 2-3 milers and 4-5 milers ahead of me before the big day. Hopefully, my legs will have thawed out by then.