One week after a 12 mile long run on a treadmill, I did a 14 mile long run by way of two seven mile, hilly loops. Just over 1,000′ of elevation gained. Battled a head win on the back half of each loop, gloves that didn’t keep my fingers warm, and then it started snowing at about mile 12.
That was rough.
But little things kept me going. Seeing this house with the unique lawn display gave me a nice chuckle.
This was a long enough run to actually eat on the road. My coach (Grayson Murphy) suggested I eat every 45 minutes. On my second lap I tore open my second meal, the new KOFFEE from Spring Energy, and oh my goodness it was perfect. Tasting coffee on the final last quarter of my run was such a big mood booster. Sure, it’s got 200 calories and caffeine, yeah, but the taste alone perked me right up.
The hardest part was getting back to my car to grab my second water bottle, and then locking my car to keep going. Seven miles with cold hands was tough… then I had to do it again!
Doing a second loop was a trip. I got to say hello to some horses again, and make my way to the top of the same hills again. As I said earlier, I got to eat my coffee energy goo, and it was magical. On this loop I also tested out using a sports drink by Maurten (a recommendation from Grayson), and well, I didn’t run out of energy on this run, so I suppose it helped!
Won’t lie – the snow and cold hands, and being tired started to crack me, but I’ve read that smiling helps, even if you’re not happy. Just the act is enough to trigger something in your brain, and it works for me. A smile led to some laughing at the absurdity of all this, running with cold hands but somehow being okay with wearing shorts, eating coffee flavored goo, wondering how the heck I’m going to run 26.6 miles in March – ahhhh!
Then, it was over. I ran 14 miles, the most I’ve ever run in one day, in one shot, and I did it in 2:38 (Strava). Not fast by any means, but I need the time on my feet if I’m going to endure an actual marathon.