A tough thirty

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. I've been pretty busy, and running, and most everything else had to take a back seat to school. In that time, I haven't really run more than a handful of times, so there wasn't much to write about anyway.

With the end of the school year, I had been hoping to do more running, but I was sick since it ended. Last night, after a full four hours of sleep, I woke up at 4 am and felt the best I've felt in a long, long time. I hopped out of bed and was out the door by 4:30. I set the modest goal of 30 miles in 6 hours.

I set out and the first five miles were fine. The next four miles seemed like they were all uphill. It was too dark to tell exactly. This stretch sapped my legs of all they had. By mile ten, I knew my legs were in trouble. I figured if I could go fifteen miles out, then I'd have no choice but to finish thirty if I wanted to get home.

If my legs were a car, the transmission started slipping after ten miles, and completely fell off after thirteen. The cold temps fooled me into thinking I wasn't thirsty. I had consumed 22 ounces of fluid in 18 miles--far too little. My hamstrings and calves were locking up. I was only able to run around 150 meters before the lactic acid flooded my legs and forced me to walk. I gutted it out like this the rest of the way.

In the end, I missed my goal time by 27 minutes, but I did get that elusive 30 mile goal.

Total time was 6 hours 27 minutes and some seconds.