The word of the day is "vindicated."

Yesterday's 16 miler was, in a word, fantastic.

Everything was better about the run. The night before, I ate spaghetti for dinner. I was in bed at a reasonable hour. I had the Breakfast of Campions: banana & Skippy Natural's PB in an Ezekiel wrap paired with a delicious 7-11 coffee. I belted out Soulja Boy's "Kiss Me Through The Phone" on the way to the water. Everything was just as it should have been.

After a brief warm up, we headed out towards Ingraham. A soft drizzle turned into an actual rain for about 15 minutes, but cleared up by mile 2. The route followed the San Diego River (not scenic) into eccentric Ocean Beach. From there we wove through the residential part of OB and ran along the (scenic) Sunset Cliffs. Throughout this time I held back to a 10:30/mi pace.

At mile 6.5, those of us going for a full 16 were sent up a trail into the back of Pt. Loma Nazarine University. My pace slowed considerably and bounced around between 11:00 and 12:00 minute miles. Even returning down the hill was tough. However, once I was back on flatter ground at mile 9, I took off.

Because the course was an out-and-back, it was easy to "race" the times I had just run. 9:40s begat 9:30s, and those melted into 9:13s. In the home stretch, I kicked it up and finished my last mile in 9:05, passing those that had been ahead of me the entire time, and even some people who had opted to do 14mi instead of 16. I'd be lying if I said that feeling wasn't flippin' sweet.

After the run, I tried to take an ice bath in the Bay. Surprisingly, it wasn't that cold.

I refueled with a Caramel Nut Brownie Luna bar (heaven) and part of a bagel, and then I was off to what ended up being a painful shower, due to this new battle scar:


Yep, chafing. Apparently my fuel belt is not a fan of the longer distances. I will be switching to a hand held bottle from here on out.

That's it for Saturday's workout. I did an easy 40min on the elliptical this morning to flush out the lactic acid. This afternoon was spent on the massage table, though my masseuse was far from talented.

In all, a great weekend for marathon training. Only seven weeks to go!

Down, and then Up

After being called out on my friend Barrett's blog, I could no loner deny the need to update.

The truth is, I've been avoiding this for a couple weeks. On March 28, the day of my 15 miler, I was in San Francisco. I had big aspirations for that run: crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, beating my 1/2 marathon time and composing an excellent blog entry as I sped along Crissy Field. All I really succeeded in doing is crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

The 15 miler was awful. The first couple miles of any run are always tough for me, but I usually get into a zone and pound out the remaining distance. Not the case a couple weeks ago. The first two miles were as rough as I expected, but things took a turn for the worst when those miles dropped me at the base of a steep hill climb. The bridge crossing, though picturesque, was windy and cold. The descent was painful (I don't have trail shoes and I do have weak ankles), and I ended up running laps around a small park to eke our the rest of my mileage. I swore (a lot) walking the last 1.25mi.

I'm not really sure what went wrong. Was it the hours of dancing the night beforehand? Poor sleep? A lackluster breakfast of plain oatmeal with no peanut butter mixed in? Only taking in 30oz of water on the run? Whatever the case, the entire experience sucked, and I was too embarrassed to come back here and broadcast a crappy run.

I licked my wounds for the first week. It took until Thursday for me to get a decent interval run in. Saturday I was scheduled for 11mi, but slept late instead. I attempted an evening run, going so far as to drive to a flatter neighborhood. I got out of the car, walked across the street, promptly walked back, got in my car and went home. I told myself I was tired. I think I was just being a wimp.

Finally, on Sunday morning, I redeemed myself. I had my usual pre-run breakfast of whole wheat tortilla, peanut butter and banana. I had coffee. I had water. I eased into the day. I drove down to the gym, gearing myself up for a nice, strong run with some R.E.M. I hopped on the treadmill, planning only 4mi and then heading outside for my favorite 7mi loop.

I did my first w/u mile at 10:30. Kicked it up to 10:00 for mile 2. I was feeling bored and up'd it to 9:45 for mile 3. By mile 4, I was doing 9:30. I didn't want to stop. I increased speed to 9:15. At mile 10, I kicked it up to 8:34 and pounded it out. Time flew by, and actually ran out on the treadmill, but I still felt like I could have kept going. My runner's high was interrupted only briefly by the realization that I forgot to put on Body Glide and was experiencing some major chafing issues. I did some abs, stretched, foam rolled, fist pumped to my own victory and headed home.

To bring this entry full circle, I must give a shout out of thanks to Barrett (as well as Tauni and Julie). They talked me down when I was pretty frustrated, and reminded me that training and improvements don't come without some minor setbacks. It's true what they say: the bad runs are what make the good runs great.