Sweet 16
Yesterday I completed 16. I ran the same route as I did for 14, but just a little longer up the Hudson. My new insoles felt better. Not perfect, but improved. The energy gel was like a vanilla Yankee candle splooged in my mouth. Disgusting. But it helped my endurance, I think, in that last leg. By which I mean last 7 miles.
My phone died with about 2 miles to go. Luckily, I knew once I returned to my FDR overpass starting point, I still had about a mile to go, so I counted out half a mile (safely assuming a 10 min pace) past it, then turned around and came back.
The feeling when I finished was amazing. This is a terrible admission, but I teared up a little bit as I walked the few avenues home (after buying a liter of water on Ave D) because I was so relieved and proud. When I had come to last week’s chapter in my book, I laughed at the title, “Reaching Your Emotional Plateau.” It was as if I had read ahead, overachieving my emotional breakdown the week prior. But just as I am still learning to steer my thoughts toward the positive, aware and calm during these runs (and following that demoralizing 12-mile day when I could not overcome negativity), sometimes positive emotions emerge from this strenuous training. I felt that radiating from me yesterday. I warned you: terrible.
So, 16 miles is down. The second-longest distance I’ll do before the actual marathon. I’ll repeat it in my long run next week, then go up to 18 for the next 2 weeks before I start “tapering.” That’s the best word I’ve ever read in my life. My new favorite verb. I’m gonna taper the eff out of these distances. Soon.
This was the first time since my training began that I read ahead to my future distances. In the past, I had no desire to read those climbing double-digit numbers until the information was absolutely vital, at the beginning of the week. But I knew 18 would be my longest distance, so I read ahead and brought myself some much-needed relief. These three weeks will still be brutal, as I imagine the following tapering weeks will, too, given my propensity to underestimate the shorter runs. But it’s also October. The marathon is NEXT MONTH.
I can do this.
