Goodness, I'm not doing a very good job of writing about my runs as they happen, now am I?

I did two 5-milers this week. Would have done three of them if not for knee problems. On Monday's run, the knee was very unhappy. So, I took Tuesday and Wednesday as rest days and did a lot of icing -- and miraculously, on Thursday, it seemed to be OK. Coach Ashley suggested that I probably need new shoes right around now, and I hope she's right that this was the source of the pain! If so, it would be easy to remedy. Hopefully I'll have time to visit a running store in the next week and see if I can find a new pair of these same shoes, since they've treated me well.

This morning at 5am, I embarked on our 16-mile team run -- my longest ever! Context for you Tucson folks: we started west of Tucson Mall and ran to Craycroft and back, along the Rillito River path. It was not humid like last week, thank goodness, but it was very warm -- already in the mid-80s by the time we started. I ran the whole way with Coach Daz, who was a wonderful and encouraging running partner. He told me that they usually try to make sure everyone is running with a buddy now, because otherwise these long runs can become fairly soul-crushing, especially given the bleakness of some of the riverbed stretches. I think he was right -- I probably would not have made it on my own. But we did make it, slowly and steadily. I really appreciated Daz's patience in not pushing my pace and taking a couple walk intervals, even though he probably could have gone much faster.

I felt good during the run today -- it wasn't excruciating like the 15-miler that was my last run with the Ann Arbor team. Nothing in particular was hurting, I had a decent amount of energy, and it was overall not too awful (even though I was exhausted for the last few miles). I had my first experience with eating salt packets (nasty, but I really did feel better afterward) and my first experience with Accelerade (probably the worst sport drink of all time, tasted just like vomit). By the last 7 miles or so, my feet were hurting pretty considerably (I think this is part of needing new shoes -- my arches aren't getting enough support) but I kept on going. By the last three miles, I think I was running slower than I usually walk! My legs had nothing left by then. But we made it in just under 3 hours, including two walk intervals, which Daz said was a good pace for this point in the training. It was a great feeling of accomplishment when we got back to base camp and all the coaches there applauded

My FuelBelt hasn't arrived yet, so I had to carry a water bottle with me. It's amazing how tired a small water bottle can make your arms while running. But I was really glad to have water with me in between water stations, especially during the last half of the run when the sun was really pounding on our backs.

After the run, I hung around base camp for a little while to stretch and make sure I would be able to drive home safely (it's easy to start feeling a little dizzy after a run that long and hot), then stopped at a Circle K on the way home for a couple bags of ice. This ice bath was much less painful than my last one -- I'm guessing partly because I knew what to expect, and partly because the water just wasn't as cold. The tap water that comes out of the "cold" tap in Tucson is about as warm as I usually like my showers to be (there's no way to get it colder), so the ice melts faster. But I stayed in for a full 15 minutes and it feels like it did me good -- no substantial muscle soreness yet. After that, I took a much-needed 4-hour nap. Now I feel very fatigued, but not sore, even my feet which were the most painful part at the end of the run.

I kind of can't believe that in a month and a half, I'm going to run this far plus 10 more miles...