Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Dirty Dozen


I don't think Marathon Mom and I were fully prepared for how uncomfortable our run today turned out to be! Our friend C couldn't make it, and maybe we just needed her to push us along (guilt trip!) or maybe it was the route we ran. I had a vague memory of a run that the hubby and I did years ago that took us to Decoro and sure enough that was the route we ran today. I had forgotten the part where we ran uphill toward Rockwell, which was a hard way to start a long run, after turning on Rockwell, we ran to Valencia, turned right and headed to McBean, and then took a left and ran toward Decoro. The Decoro hill isn't so steep, as much as it just goes on forever, we decided to walk a bit of it so we would have something left in our legs at the end of the run, (it didn't help). We took Decoro to Seco, Seco, to Bouquet (quick stop for water at Jack-in-the-Box) and then to Valencia, Valencia, to Magic Mtn. and the Magic Mtn, to the South Fork Trail. Once we hit the South Fork trail, I think both of us were done running, the sun was out in force and the legs had nothing left. We even stopped and walked a bit on the trail knowing we weren't far from being done. We came out the trail on Wiley, and headed to Old Orchard which is not our favorite because of the lack of sidewalks and the slight uphill climb, we were so happy to get back to McBean and turn toward Granery Square. We were just behind the very last guy and we figured that our Jack-in-the-Box stop was the reason why, but we found out that several of the runners didn't do the last two miles on the South Fork and just continued up Valencia to McBean, I have to say we were tempted, but we finished all 12. The one thing that went through both our minds on our run today was if it is this hard to do 12, how in the world will we get through 26.2? Hopefully we will have a selective memory, kind of like childbirth and will be able to get out and do it again in a couple of weeks! Map to follow.

5 comments:

marathon mom said...

Today was just excrutiating. BTW, it was actually more like 12.5 miles and that extra 1/2 mile means a lot to me! I just really have to prepare better for these long runs by making sure I get enough sleep the night before. Also I'm thinking that we may really need to watch our mileage during the week now that we are running more on the weekends. This next weekend, we cycle back down to 6 miles so we can continue to work on improving speed, but on the weeks that we are amping up the miles, we should just run easy. The trainer wasn't kidding when he said we would be well prepared for any marathon due to the hills we train on beforehand. As I was running up Decoro, I just kept thinking "how am I going to do this at mile 23?" Also, we have to be careful not to let the 10 milers or the 1/2 marathoners pull us through too quickly in the beginning of the runs. The hips and lower back are sore from the train/car ride after the run, which is to be expected. I am going to sit in an epsome salt bath tonight.

SD said...

Wow that is a nice route!! I'm so glad you guys (gals) are posting the routes!!!

Someday, I want to be able to do that route. It won't be running like you did, but it will serve as a great walking route.

The problem I see right now, however is the heat. I think the only really good time to do it would be very early in the morning.

Y'all are great motivation to me as well as a goal for something that I strive toward.. Keep up your good work..

Also, I must agree with the amount of miles per week dealio. I did 45 miles this week and although it was nice to get a personal record, I found that I essentially tore myself up (blisters, sore back, swollen ankles).. So it looks like I will be adding more rest days and doing 4 days / week with 3 days off -- basically alternating -- instead of 6 or even 7 days..

Congrats on the 12.5er though!!

David

marathon mom said...

The only problem with that route is that it goes right by my house almost at the halfway point and it was really tempting to just go home. You definitely want to do this route as early in the morning as possible since there is really no shade once you hit Bouquet and not until you're back on Orchard. I'm so glad that we found out later that all those runner that were so full of energy afterwards and talkative didn't all run 12 miles. I felt like I wanted to go crawl in a dark cave and they looked like they were ready to go again.

Patty said...

There is a reason we start at 6:30! It wasn't so much that it was "hot" at that time of the day, but having the sun on me just seems to drain me of energy. It was also very humid, and I know we were getting dehydrated when we just weren't sweating as much anymore. I felt bad to write such a long post, that was basically the directions of our run, but other than that it would have been more complaining, which there was enough of as it was! I have to say on a positive note, we finished it, and I don't feel bad at all today.

marathon mom said...

I feel better than I thought I would today considering how bad I felt yesterday. My muscles are a little tight, but that's probably more due to the car ride. Hope I can make it tonight, otherwise run without me. Are we running the COC this week?