twenty miles... just the facts

distance:20 miles
total time: 4hr 35 mins
pace: 13:05 mins/mile
weather: 50s with lots of fog and moderate winds

miles 1-6: i was mostly thinking about how i probably should have started this thing before 2pm, cause its never going to end. i sang some shania. right after the sixth mile, my ipod ran out of battery. I was about a mile away from the car and luckily i had my running radio in my gym bag. the no music thing could have really made this day more painful, so it was a bullet dodged.

miles 7-12: went pretty well. i am making that assumption based on the fact that I have no memory from those 5 miles.

mile 13: I realize that i ran the equivilant of a half marathon in much less time that it took me to do the half in February. this was a nice moment since im never quite convinced that im getting faster.

mile 14-15: the high from the previous discovery carried me for about 2 miles before it was replaced with pain.

miles 16-18: at this point, everything hurt. all joints, muscles, and fat cells were ready to enter the horizontal position. meanwhile, the fog got so low that i was gross and wet and breathing felt a little weird. it would be an under-statement to say that this was uncomfortable. I forgot about these conditions momentarily when a couple in their 70s wearing matching lime-green track suits jogged by.

miles 18-20: if there was any part of the run i was mentally prepared for, it was the last two miles. i had already done 18 last week, so i had repeatedly reminded myself that today is all about these two miles. i told myself that its just two miles, i can run two miles any day of the week, anytime, no problem. I stopped looking at my watch and tried to just drag my ass along. one tiny problem is that my body was fully aware of the fact that this wasn't just two miles. this was two miles after having run 18. but i clearly dont listen very carefully to my body, or we would have gone home a long time ago. so, i ignored it and instead thought about what i was going to eat for dinner. that was a great finishing strategy and i'm gonna have to use that one again in future runs... food is definitely something all my body parts can always agree on.