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Mended By Mercy

Embracing Imperfection. Growing in Faith

September 24, 2012

{Monday Runday} The Epic 7 Mile Fail

This past week /weekend were once again crazy with an overwhelming to do list.  The only time I could find to do my long run was right after church.  I much prefer early morning runs, but I looked at weather.com and saw that it was going to be about 75 degrees when church let out.  Not to bad.  So I packed all my running goodies in a bag and after church, I quickly changed into all my running gear.
I didn’t realize, until I had to pack it all in a bag, how much stuff I actually use when I go running: shoes, special wicking socks, compression leggings, dri-fit clothes, fuel belt with water, nuun water supplements, honey stinger nutrition bar, garmin, calorie/heart rate monitor and chest strap, headset and my iphone arm strap.  
Seriously, that’s alot of stuff just to run.
For this run, I mapped out a 7 mile route which would take me out from church to the outskirts of town, over the interstate to another country road which would take me back to my subdivision.  What I didn’t realize is that while we don’t really have “hills” in West Texas, my route was a slow, steady incline and by mile 4, I thought I might die.  
Not really a “hill,” but still a steady incline.

At mile 4 crossing over the interstate.  My house is still about 3 miles north, beyond all those buildings on the horizon. Aurgh….

I had to stop at about mile 3, which is not normal for me.  I typically run the whole thing, maybe stopping for 30 seconds to get a drink or something, but I don’t normally stop for longer than that.  I can usually run a 5k, no problem.  But those first 3 miles were running straight into a 15 mph wind, which was so stinking hard.  My heart rate during a 5k is normally about 140-160, but for much of those first 3 miles with the wind and “hills” combined, my heart rate was close to 185, hence why I thought I might die.  I stopped and sat for like 5 minutes, so as not to puke. And when my heart rate came back down, I started back up.

I got to mile 4, stopped again, and ate my honey stinger and drink more water.  I told myself “only 3 more miles to go!” So I got back up again and took off. At mile 5, my wonderful husband, who had been out to lunch with some of our friends, pulled up to see how I was doing.  I told him I thought I might die, but I was going to finish.  Being the awesome husband that he is, he ran home to get some more water for me.  I kept running.

At mile 5.5, he pulled up with a squirt bottle and a big bottle of cold water.  Remember how I said it was 75 right after church? That quickly became 85 degrees while I was out there running.  And in West Texas, you cannot escape the sun.  It will scorch you.  So I drink a ton of water and got hosed down with a squirt bottle and it felt sooooo good…

Feeling refreshed, I tackled that last 1.5 miles.  And let me tell you…it sucks when you get to your house and your garmin says “6.80 miles.”  Cory was waiting in the front yard for me and I hollered as I ran past “this really sucks! I’m home, but I can’t stop! I got .2 miles to run still! I’ll be back!!”  So past the house I go.  I turned around at 6.9 miles and at 7 miles, I was in my driveway.  I hit stop on my garmin, (thank God!) and promptly collapsed on the ground, where I felt I could have stayed for about an entire week.

oh 7 mile route, you are dead to me.

My husband is so good to me that he had a pb&j waiting for me, along with some P90X recovery formula.

My hero!

So my 7 mile run was an epic fail.  Let me sum up to you what I learned.

  1. 7 miles is a long way in a scorching sun, 85 degrees and running into 15 mph winds.  This run made me feel like crap.
  2. I need more water than I thought I did.  Time to invest in a bigger bottle, more fuelbelt bottles or a camelpack to run with.
  3. Running mid-day on not much food is a stupid thing to do.  I ate breakfast, then had some fruit before my run. I typically run on very little food in the morning because running with food in my stomach upsets my tummy.  Apparently this is not the same for a mid-day run. Only run long runs in the morning.  Noted.
  4. Eye of the Tiger Pandora station is the ultimate pandora station for running.
  5. I have an awesome husband, who checked to make sure I wasn’t dead on the road somewhere.
So while yes, it was an epic fail, it was also a humbling experience.  I may be more “athletic” than I ever have been in my life, but that doesn’t mean training is going to be easy.  And maybe it wasn’t a complete failure…I may have had to take a few breaks, but I still ran the entire 7 miles in 1 hour 27 minutes with an average pace of 12:34.
Let’s pray this week’s long run, 8 miles, doesn’t suck quite as bad!

Filed Under: Running

Reader Interactions

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Comments

  1. viviene says

    September 25, 2012 at 1:03 am

    Go go go! You can do it!! =) It's lovely to have such a sweet husband =)

    Reply
    • Stephanie says

      September 30, 2012 at 6:47 pm

      Thank you! And yes it is 🙂 I'm glad he came and checked on me, otherwise, I may have never made it home!

      Reply
  2. Debsdailylife says

    September 24, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    IT may have felt like an epic fail, but look at what all you learned!!
    What brand of fuel belt do you use? Mine has velco and Im not 'loving it'. Im looking for one that 'buckles'.

    Reply
    • Stephanie says

      September 30, 2012 at 6:47 pm

      It just says Fuelbelt. Are there other brands? Mine is velcro also, but a buckle one would be much better!

      Reply

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