13 is the luckiest number....or maybe not.

So I tried to do everything right with this run. I was in bed by 10 but being in bed did not translate to actually falling asleep. It was pretty surreal. Just laid there most the night not falling asleep. This has been a brutal week with school so I though I would crash, but it was not to be. The alarm went off at 5:30 and I got up and fed the cat and almost fell over because I was so tired. So I crawled back in bed for an hour. It helped...a little.

I was really looking forward to the 13 mile run today. I was able to find a charger for my Ipod through one of my roommates friends and that helped my mood to be sure. I also downloaded quite a few new songs to put in the rotation. I took off Thursday thinking it would help my legs recover from the hard effort Wednesday. I am just not sure what else I could have done to be ready for today.

I have been trying to work in some Shot Blocks to help with the energy in the morning and during the run. My stomach has just never been able to get used to them, and today they really wreaked havoc on my system.

The first couple of miles there was that tenderness from the left knee that sometimes singles trouble and sometimes just goes away. Today happened to be one of the days it just really went away. Even though it was about 7:10-7:15 by the time I was on the road, it was still quite cold. I could see my breathe up until about mile 8. I did enjoy the coolness, to be sure. There was a lot of dew on the grass and leaves so that was kind of nice to look at once I noticed it.

I had some really strong miles from about 4 to 6 that made me feel pretty good. Around mile 7 is when my stomach started going haywire. Usually, when I need to stop to hit the bathroom, I have a mile or two sometimes even three before it becomes absolutely necessary. Today....once I hit mile 7.8 that was it. I had to completely stop running and walk until I got to a bathroom. Kind of bad for the confidence, but I was able to find a bathroom at the UW track stadium and that was a pleasant surprise. So now I have 2 places a mile and a half apart when needed.

After the stop I did an ok job of picking the pace back up but it was really hard to find a pace that felt right. With the walking mixed in, I was well behind what I wanted today....but I really made hay the last 2.2 miles...in fact...and I know the mph isn't 100% accurate on the Garmin, but it was what was showing when I looked down at 12.91, my speed said 6.9 mph so I was going pretty well. I actually ended up at 2 hr 9 min and 56 secs by the time it was all said and done. So I am pretty excited about that. And Jon if you check this out...I tried to do the lap time on the Garmin to check my half split, but can't figure out how to check both times. Any help would be appreciated. Hope all my runner friends had good runs and that everyone has a nice weekend. Thanks for reading!