16 mile long run

Laura and Me after running
16 miles in Reston, VA!

The weather is FINALLY cooling down in the DC area as my mileage for the Marine Corps Marathon climbs higher.  The day we were to run 16 miles with my fellow TNTers, I awoke at 5am to feel like a truck had run me over.  The stress of beginning the school year combined with my new cross country coaching responsibility/hours was starting to catch up with me.  I was thiiiiiiis close to rolling over and turning off the alarm.  Zooey and Beenie just looked too comfortable crashed out on the end of the bed.  However, the thought of running 16 miles on my own was daunting so I forced myself up and pulled my running shoes and gear on.

Our run this week was on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail out in Reston, VA.  The DC, MD and VA teams all combined to run together, so we were a pretty big group.  I was not thrilled to have to drive 45 minutes from my house to train, so I showed up cranky.  We were to do two out and backs on the W&OD trail.  We started at mile marker 17 and then ran out past Reston town center and Herndon town center to mile marker 22.  From there we turned around and ran back past our starting point to mile marker 14.  I was actually thrilled with this plan as I was able to mentally break the long run into four smaller parts to give my body smaller goals to reach one at a time.  I perked up as we walked out to the trail.

Since our teams were all combined, I literally ran in to a running friend I made way back in May when we ran a 5 mile long run (that seems SO long ago!).  Her name is Laura.  I asked her what her training pace was lately, and it was the same as mine at 11min/mile.  Perfect!  We decided to run together.  Well, this woman kicked my butt!  Neither of us had our GPS watches on, but I could FEEL that we were running faster than my body was used to.  I was afraid I wasn't able to maintain it for long.  However, my body got in the groove, and fueled by the cool weather and sunshine, I was able to keep up!  The other secret to great long runs with TNT is their amazing rest stops that are volunteer run.  They had four rest stops along the route stocked with all kinds of goodies including my favorite three: water, gatorade and pretzels!

We powered through our 16 miles.  Hearing and shouting "Go team!" from and to our teammates as we passed on the trail really helped motivate us.  We finished our run at a pace of 10:35min/mile!  Not only was this our longest run EVER, but it was our best training run to date!  Thanks, Laura, for a fantastic training experience.