run happy?

this weekend i was supposed to run 20 miles for my marathon training - unfortunately i woke up on saturday morning with a sore throat that was just not going away (i'd been fighting a sore throat all week).  so instead of lacing up my running shoes, i ran to the quick care to figure out what was going on :)  got an antibiotic (which i honestly don't think i've had an antibiotic in 3 years - didn't have an antibiotic while pregnant with jillian or living overseas --- really seeing the benefits of chiropractic care!)

i started feeling better on sunday - we spent the morning cheering ross on at his triathlon and the temperatures climbed into the mid-90's here by lunchtime.  so i decided to wait until monday morning (so thankful for a bonus weekend-day due to memorial day) to do my run. 

i got up at 5:30 on monday, ate some breakfast outside on the patio so i would not wake anyone up, then headed out for my 20 mile run.  it was already 77 degrees and i would guess 150% humidity.   i headed off into the lovely corn fields surrounding sturgis and to put it nicely - I . WAS . DYING!  it was hot, i was tired, and it was 6am - ugh!  mile 6 felt like mile 50.  i've only had a handful of moments in my running career where i was really "hating running"!  and monday was one of those moments!  i finished my loop around the cornfields and headed back to the house for some more water.  in fact the last mile back to the house - i ran out of water!  i actually stuck my tongue out thinking i could "drink" the humidity :)  i logged 13.5 miles by the time i arrived at the house. 

i walked in the air-conditioned house and found everyone up eating breakfast ---- i think they all thought i looked like a lost dog that had spent the night out in the rain.... i told ross that i was miserable - it was hot, i was soaked with sweat, and i was STILL not finished with my run.  i quickly changed clothes (put on my "run happy" shirt - thinking that might help me ...well ..... run happy!), filled 1 water bottle with powerade and the other with water and ice cubes, and headed back out on the road.  as i was leaving i told ross that i wasn't sure i'd be able to finish all 20 miles.  he said "just try to do 2 more and then come home".... at that time he probably knew my stubborn self would get back out there and do all 20.  and he was right!  i did it!  i actually finished the last 6.5 miles at a much faster pace than i was doing the first 13.5.

i've been doing some reading on negative split races lately... trying to figure out how to improve my time  (you run the 2nd half of the race faster than the 1st half) and on monday i did just that.  maybe a new race strategy.

lately i've aquired some new running gear:
---a visor - why didn't i get something like this before!?! love it!
---remember the days of carrying a huge tape-playing walkman?  look at how tiny the ipod is now!
---my hands-free water bottle - love it!