Difficult Long Run in the Rain

 This past weekend, I completed a 16 mile run. The key word here is completed. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't a whole lot of fun, but I finished.

 When I do long runs, I like to do them on the trail that I live near. It goes for miles, but the section I frequent is about 4 miles long. This works out well because my water bottles typically only last for about 8 miles of running. I then refill when I get back to my car.

 Anyhow - I got out on the trail by 6:45am and for the first 8 miles, I felt pretty good! I was careful to keep my pace comfortable and not too fast, knowing I had a long road ahead. I started to ease into a groove and at the turn around mile 4 - I was thinking this would be a good run.

 By this point, the trail was filling up with runners and bikers. This is an easy distraction - so I was careful to not try to pace with anyone. A huge mistake one can make is to try to run at someone else's pace. Not an issues though, just sort of kept trotting along.

When I got back to my car, 8 miles and halfway done with my run - I felt decent and started filling my water bottles back up. It's at this point that the skies opened up and a pretty decently heavy rain started falling. Luckily I was already totally gross from running - so the rain didn't bother me. It actually felt pretty nice. What it did do though is scare off about 90% of the other runners on the trail. This made for a fairly quiet last 8 miles.

So, back on the trail I go - feeling pretty good, but obviously starting to feel the effects of the workout.
10 miles in, feeling a little tired, but not bad.
11 miles, look at my watch - see i'm slowing down - uh oh - better pick it up
12 miles, at the turn, feeling pretty gassed. "this may be an interesting 4 miles back to the car..."
13 miles, Half marathon! Woo! Ok, time to walk.
14-16 miles, let's just say I looked less than athletic.

It wasn't a great run, but I finished it. I kept a positive outlook and tried to enjoy the great morning weather if nothing else. Hopefully my next one (18 miles) is a bit easier - but the main thing is to just keep after it. You have to listen to your body and slow down if you're not feeling it. Long runs are going to hurt a bit, but once it crosses the line to exhaustion or pain, you need to reel it in. Until that point though, keep positive thoughts in your head and know that you will finish.

Drive Slow