Running 18 Miles with Friends

As my marathon training is getting closer to race day, my training miles are still steadily increasing.  I haven’t begun my taper yet… but oh how I look forward to that time.  Last Friday morning, before the sun, I set out on the rolling hills of Rocklin to run 18 miles with friends.

We are all training for our first full marathon, the California International Marathon here in Sacramento.  We ran part of the race course, which surprisingly for me was full of good rollers and hills.  Not what I expected for a relatively flat and fast course.  The rollers were doable, but definitely a noticeable incline that would be felt after a long race!

This training run felt easy.  It was almost fun.  We ran on feel and not necessarily based on speed or hitting our target pace.  We kept it honest and left our garmin running during water, restroom, and fuel breaks.  The breaks were a bit longer than it would have been running solo (or during a race) as we had four runners to wait on.  But over all the time and distance was as honest and close as I can assume running an easy 18 miles would be on race day.

It was a very chilly start to our dark-o-thirty run start at 6AM.  We donned our Ragnar gear of running vests and head lamps.  After a few miles we warmed up, and I ditched my long sleeve shirt and ran in just a t’shirt and capris (around mile 2).

We started our run at a conservative pace, making sure we were able to sustain the pace and not hit the perverbial wall later on.  The first few miles were easy and fun, we were chatting away and just enjoying the girl-time with each other.

Around 4.5 miles we stopped at Carl’s Junior and refilled our water and used the restroom.  Four of us.  This added some time to our run, but again… we were out to cover the distance, gain endurance, and not be speed warriors today.  I fueled with honey stinger gel.

Miles 6-8 were steady.  I don’t really remember where we were at this point on the run, but I don’t remember feeling tired or sluggish.  I don’t know why mile 7 was slower.  Perhaps we hit some hills?  Perhaps we had to wait on traffic?  Or maybe we just slowed down for a bit during our conversation?  I do know that I felt no pain, and was feeling good still.

Somewhere in between these miles (maybe 7.5 or maybe 9?) we stopped to refill our waters and the girls used the restroom before hitting the trial. I refueled with another honey stinger.

Miles 9-12 were our slowest.  I think there were many factors that played in to this time shift on our run.  Traffic was increasing as people were on their morning commute.  This forced us to get over and run single file to not get hit.  We also started to hit some good rolling hills on the trail.

I do remember walking for a few 30 second breaks with the girls as we realized that we were running SLOWER up the hill than we would be if we were WALKING up it.  One of our girls received a phone call from her husband, and we walked while she took that call.  And then wouldn’t you know that between mile 11 and 12 a bird pooped on my friend’s head!   We quickly stopped in at a restaurant to refill our waters and clean her hair!

I think I even fiddled with my fuel belt to get out my honey stinger waffle around mile 10/11, while running (which could be why the pace was slower).  I do remember eating while running.  I ate 1/2 a honey stinger waffle.

After our last water refill stop, we made our final 6 miles back to our starting spot.  We had more rollers to tackle and were bracing for the suck of running this many miles.

We all decided to plug in our headphones and bust out the last 10K of our run solo… while listening to our music… tackling the miles on our own, yet together.  It was just the motivation and push that many of us needed.

Unfortunately, it took a while for me to get my headset squared away and started.  I used my jaybird wireless headphones, which I LOVE.  But I had to sync my bluetooth to the head set, turn on my play list, put my iphone back in my ifitness belt, and begin running again.  It was one big time consuming, FLUSTERING mess.

Once the music was synced, turned on and ready to go… I was able to tackle miles 13-18 while in my own musical vibe.  I left my garmin/watch running while I was fiddling with my music system, again to give an accurate reading of how our pace would be on race day.

The remainder miles 13-18 were strong and steady.  I never hit the wall.  I fueled every mile with a honey stinger chew.  This is a new fuel choice for me, but I was willing to give it a go.  It was just enough to keep me going strong and never annoyed me with sticky-to-the-teeth feel.

At this point we all had our headphones in our ear and were focused on covering the distance at our happy pace.  We did spread out but could still see each other.  I found my happy pace and comfortable rhythm hitting about a 10ish min/mile pace.  My lungs and heart felt strong.  I had no cramping or tired/heavy legs.

I do want to share my new favorite motivational and inspirational songs that I believe helped me stay focused during the last few miles of this run.

When I saw that my 18 miles was almost up, I did try to kick it into a higher gear.  Nothing too taxing or stressful.  More like a stride in to the final beep of the garmin alerting me that I covered 18 miles.

The only hiccup I did encounter during my run was an occasional knee twinge/shooting pain on my outer right knee (which is a new knee pain).  It would zing between miles 11-13 then I was able to run it out.  It started zinging again around mile 16-18.  I would literally gasp Ouch! out loud while running… and then was able to run it out.

I am not sure if the pain is from poor form, my new running shoes, or something else.  I did ice it and am watching it closely to make sure it isn’t something more serious.

Four girlfriends.  Covered 18 miles.  Each loving and wearing Saucony.  We are mother runners who run to #findyourstrong … find our strong!

It is amazing to me how some runs feel good and easy, while others are wickedly hard and challenging.  Last week’s 16 miler was super hard and I struggled physically and mentally.  I hit that wall and never thought I would be able to run beyond 16 miles.  Yet, this weekend my 18 miler was smooth and super easy.  It gave me confidence to know that I would be able to conquer and run my first full marathon in a few short weeks!

With just a few short weeks until my first full marathon, do you have any tips or tricks (advice) for this full-marathon newbie?