Uncle Jonathan and I ran a marathon distance run today to prepare for the marathon race we'll be in on the fifteenth of the month. It turned out to be an adventure that left us exhausted at the end.
To start out, we've had snow here. Today was getting quite warm so we hoped the trails would be melted enough to run on. We left shortly before ten o'clock and went into the trails. They weren't runable. You could run in them, and we did for a little over a mile, but it wasn't something you wanted to do. It was slushy and icy and there were pools of water and it was a mental drain to run on it. You had to change your running style to make sure you were placing your feet safely so you didn't slip. As soon as we got to the first intersection, we headed out of the park.
We didn't want to run on pavement, but we ended up running everything but about three miles on pavement. We changed plans and headed to Uncle Jonathan's house. We've never measured the run distance and it turns out to be four-and-a-half miles via the park and greenway routes.
We dropped off hats, gloves and I even left my shirt, running in my fitness bra for the remainder of the trip. We didn't have keys to get into Uncle Jonathan's house on us so we ran a block to our running friends office and used their bathroom and water fountains. Then we headed to the children's school via the art museum paths. We'd never measured that either and it turns out to be a two mile distance via greenways and sidewalks.
We headed away to more greenway via the college campus and ran into downed trees. We had run over branches in the park, but not downed trees that required clambering over. There were large sections of more snow/ice/slush/puddle combination we ran through. I looked at the time at that point and called my husband. I asked him if he could bring my Body Glide in the car when he picked up the children. I was getting some chafing on my arms due to the lack of shirt and the Body Glide would help.
We ran on some sidewalks and then up to the Whole Foods right by the school. We did another bathroom/water break and realized we were well ahead of schedule to meet my husband. I called him back, telling him we were running in his driving direction and to look for us. We met him just before we met back up with another greenway entrance. At this point our shoes were drenched again from a long section of snow-covered sidewalks.
I body glided my arms and chest, trying not to flash the car that passed by. We headed back onto the trail and had a long stretch with almost no snow—but there were more downed trees. We went over one or two and then went under a larger one.
We arrived at a junction of the trails that conveniently had a McDonald's at the intersection so we went in for water. We didn't have any money on us so we went into the bathrooms. Uncle Jonathan filled up his water bottle and I just drank out of the sink with my hands. We noticed both Whole Foods and McDonald's had nice warm water in their sinks. Water tasted so good at this point. We were also eating Gu packets from time to time, which helps on a long run.
We ran more along the greenway, following a creek and then out into a neighborhood when the trail ended. We were heading back towards the house now, but were only at about seventeen miles. The next bit was a mess. We were running on a two-mile stretch of a large road with sidewalks on both sides and lots of loud traffic. We still had to deal with spots of snow from time to time and some more downed tree branches. We were both wanting to get off the road into some more peaceful running paths.
We decided to go home the way we'd headed out so we made our way on sidewalks and paved greenway back to the park entrance. We got water and were disappointed to see, in the over fifty-degree weather that the trails in the park were still snow-covered. "How bad could it be," we though and decided to run a bit further in to check the status of the trails further up.
They were bad. We turned around shortly and sloshed through over a mile of messy, more melted and possibly more dangerous trail until we got to our home park exit. We were tired but we had four miles left to make the marathon distance. But we were home so we stopped in at the house to go to the bathroom. I chugged a Gatorade and then we headed back out.
Our feet hurt. Our legs hurt. This wasn't the marathon we had anticipated when we started out, but we made the distance running the last miles in the neighborhood.
Before we were so exhausted, we talked enthusiastically about how this was the biggest running adventure we'd ever had. It definitely was. It worked our legs and feet in different ways and I'm sure that added to the challenge. I also got a nice sunburn from the nice sunny day we had during the whole run. But right now, I'm very tired. Tomorrow and in the future, it's going to live on as the crazy marathon training run.
I'm glad we did it. I'm glad we made it. I'm going to bed.
The Big Boy Update: Playing games with daddy. I came downstairs tonight shortly before bed time to find my husband playing a video game on the television and my son holding a second controller. Daddy had been teaching my son how to play several games, Sonic the Hedgehog one of them. He said he did very well and was happy to wait his turn.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is not into girly things for the most part. Yesterday morning she came downstairs and said, "mom, I want to watch Transformers."
Fitness Update: 26.2 miles today in the most crazy marathon style. As an aside, this is also the start of the fourth year my husband and I have been tracking our weights. I'm holding steady to my ideal weight range goal. I wish I didn't have to watch what I eat, but after four years, my desire to eat food is greater than the amount of food my body needs.
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