Things NOT to do before (and during) a 17-mile run

--Do not go to a cocktail party the night before.
--Do not go to said cocktail party on bike*
--On the night before the training run, do not have a light dinner of cereal and soymilk.
--Do not go to bed at 11:30pm and then wake up at 4am to take your husband to the airport **
--After returning from the airport, do not try unsuccessfully to go back to sleep (being unsuccessful because you are too cold).
--Do not eat cereal and soymilk for breakfast, because that will only make you colder.
--Do not drink coffee to warm yourself up, because that will power you to attempt to analyze your data for 4 hours.
--Do not sit there analyzing your data until lunchtime and then decide to go run 17 miles instead of eating lunch.
--Do not attempt to make up for lack of lunch by eating a large quantity of dried mangos, and then heading out the door for the 17 mile run.
--Do not start out running 8:00 miles; it might feel great at the beginning, but by the end you will be shuffling along at 11 minute pace.
--Do not veer wildly off course and speed up maniacally at mile 5-ish because you saw your dissertation advisor out on his bike and you don’t want him to see you for two reasons:
1) You are wearing spandex running capris
2) He will think that you should be working on your dissertation instead of running.
--Do not run on Mattis, even if its only from John to University.
--Do not go without Gatorade and also decide that you do not need Clif Shots (carbohydrate/electrolyte replacement).
--Do not do the whole run on just 20 ounces of water.
--Do not mis-judge the distance and actually end up going 17.4.

*Only the Ragfields would show up at a black-tie event on their tandem bike.
** Note: The alarm clock didn’t go off until 4:45, but I woke up a full 45 minutes before.

In spite of doing all these things, I had a really great 17 mile training run today. For my first couple of marathons, I was really persnickety about preparing for the weekly long runs, but this time I have been nothing short of blasé. A few weeks ago I had a really tough 12-miler, but doing 17 miles today was totally a piece of cake. I couldn’t believe it, especially considering that I started out the run kind of hungry and already dehydrated. There was a little bit of gnawing around mile 4.5, but I thought, this is way too early to chug my Clif Shot. I wanted to wait until I was at least halfway into the run to slurp those precious carbs and electrolytes, but once the gnawing passed, I never felt the need for it again.

When I got home, I turned on the TV and found a channel that was showing some of the highlights from today’s New York City Marathon. Even though I had thought I was pretty tired, I somehow found the energy to jump up and down, screaming, “Go, Paula, go!” as Paula Radcliffe tore through the last couple of miles. When she crossed the finish line in first place, I was sobbing in hysteric joy; I had no idea I was such a Paula Radcliffe fan—maybe it was just the endorphins.

At any rate, it sounds like Rob had a much more eventful day than me, including: Cinnabon at O’Hare, a bike ride through Golden Gate Park, a visit to the ocean, and seeing the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge and bay. Though I never like it when he is gone, I am thrilled for him. From his email snippets, it sounds like he is having such a great time. I hope that somehow in the midst of all these bike rides he’s got planned, that he does actually find the time to go to the workshop he’s supposed to be attending this week. I will be lonely without him, but I’m keeping my spirits up with big plans to cook with things he doesn’t really like but I do, such as mushrooms and sweet potatoes.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading.