I did it! Twenty miles yesterday morning. For the most part, it was an excellent run. We ran along the riverbed from Oracle west to La Cholla and back, and then east to Craycroft and back.

I ran by myself for the first 8 miles or so -- there were other TNTers up ahead and not too far behind, but I wasn't running alongside anyone. The first 45 minutes or so were mentally challenging because it was quite dark and I wasn't very familiar with that part of the riverbed path. So in a way, it was nice to be by myself because there was nothing to distract my attention from trying not to trip! Once it began to get light, the little bunnies started to come out, and there were a couple miles of extremely cute bunnies everywhere. It turned into a gorgeous, cool morning.

I was keeping a good, steady pace, and everything felt just about right. I was trying to run mindfully, just noticing each step as it occurred, instead of letting my mind wander off into worries and fantasies. It's amazing how much less boring running is when I focus my attention on it instead of distracting myself from it. I feel like I really experienced this run, rather than just "getting through it."

Around Mile 8, Coach Ashley found me and ran with me for about 3 miles, and she caught up with me again around Mile 13. By Mile 13, I was starting to get tired, but felt like I could keep my slow steady pace up for a long time. I mentioned that to Ashley, and I must have jinxed myself by doing so, because shortly thereafter my left knee started hurting a lot. It was a sudden pain and it nearly took my breath away because it was so intense. Based on the location of the pain, Ashley thought maybe it was my IT band getting irritated, but she said it was unusual for IT band pain to happen so suddenly. We stopped and stretched and then walked for about half a mile, and then I decided to see what would happen if I started running again. It still hurt quite a bit and I was afraid that I might have to walk the rest of the way back. But I was able to run through it and after a mile or so, it seemed to loosen up a little bit, enough that I could keep on running even with the pain.

With 2.5 miles to go, I was clearly going to make it in OK, so Ashley turned around to pick up some other runners and I did the last stretch solo. My legs were extremely tired and sore by now. I wasn't really noticing my knee anymore, but that might have been because the pain in the rest of my legs had caught up to the pain in my knee. Even my abs were hurting at this point! However, I wasn't tempted to stop and walk, because I could tell that if I walked, everything would start hurting a lot more. So I just kept it slow (very slow) and steady, even bypassing the last water station because I didn't want to interrupt the tenuous momentum that I seemed to have going. I started mentally labeling my steps in triplets (right-left-right left-right-left right-left-right left-right-left); for some reason, mentally "chunking" the steps made them feel easier.

I finished in 3 hours 57 minutes, which is just about a 12-minute mile pace on average. That would be a totally decent marathon pace for me! When I got within sight of the finish area, I could see that all the TNT run coaches (even including the winter team coaches) were there to cheer me in. They waved signs, applauded, and rang bells as I approached. It felt great! As soon as I stumbled into the gazebo and sat down, one of them started taking off my shoes for me, another one was getting me a cool washcloth, and Louanne prepared a little ice bath for me to stick my feet into. I could get used to being pampered like that. :-) My feet did pretty well on this run. The blister I'd incurred earlier in the week did fine with just a bandaid. I seem to have developed another one between my big toes on the same foot, but I'm hoping it will heal easily too.

I sat around for a half hour or so to cheer the other runners in. There was lots of food and I tried to make myself eat something, although all I could manage was half a peanut butter sandwich. Eventually, I stumbled home, showered, and took my ice bath (an extra cold one with three bags of ice). It was a somewhat rough afternoon after that. I was still in a lot of pain despite the ice bath, and while I wanted to rest or nap, my whole lower body would start aching intensely when I would lie down. I was also still having trouble making myself eat. Eventually, I was able to fall asleep for a couple of hours and felt a lot better after that, especially with the help of some ice packs on my knees and a couple of Advil. I slept for 11 hours last night, and this morning, my joints are definitely sore! I have ice packs on my knees as I type.

So overall, it was an awesome run. I went into it with the right attitude ("this is going to hurt, but that's OK! it just means it's working!") and I saw that I could get through a lengthy run even with some substantial pain. Plus, the majority of the run was pain-free and enjoyable. I'm now officially excited about Race Day!

We are now in the pre-race "taper" period, meaning no hill training, no strength training, and no substantial distance between now and race day. Really, my main jobs in the next 3 weeks are to let my body heal and to not get injured. I am taking these jobs very seriously. Heeled shoes: you only increase the probably that I will twist my ankle, so you're all on sabbatical until after the race! Same for you, lawns that I sometimes walk across on campus: I'll be staying on solid pavement that is free from gopher holes. I also probably won't run at all in the next week, because I want to let my knee heal completely from whatever was ailing it yesterday. What I'll do instead are some gentle walks with a lot of stretching afterward. Coach Ashley thought that maybe the knee problem was due to a lack of stretching in the previous week; I hadn't been stretching much since I was staying off the blister.