It's Not Getting Any Easier

23+ disjointed miles.
Happy to complete the distance, but I have to give myself a grade of C.

I enjoyed the route and the company, but I did not have a stellar outing.  Let's start from the beginning.

The alarm went off at 4:45.  I didn't fall asleep early enough (watched the lame movie "Blindness" until around 11PM), and so I was pretty groggy.  I managed to get up quickly though, put on my running clothes, made breakfast of wheat toast and veggie sausage, and got out of the house by 5:15.  Drove through dense fog, getting to the South Mission Beach parking lot by 5:45.  The morning dawn light and cool temps were great, and I went out for a relaxing 4 mile warmup run, wanting to tack on the extra miles to the planned 18 I'd be doing with Christy and Michael starting at 6:30.

I had planned to run up to Santa Clara park along the Bayside Walk and then return along the Ocean Front Walk for a 4 mile loop.  That should only have taken about 32-33 minutes at my pace, but instead it took me 45.  I couldn't figure that out since I didn't feel like I was going slow at all.  It wasn't until afterward that I realized what I'd done.  I'd forgotten I was only supposed to go as far as Santa Clara, thinking instead I had mapped the route to Grand.  I had, actually...initially...but later trimmed the plan down, thinking I wouldn't have enough time before having to meet up at 6:30.  Only, I forgot about that once into the jog.  In my morning reverie, I conflated the two routes, thinking I had to get to Grand and back to make it 4 miles.  When I map that out, it's an additional mile and a half.  So instead of 4 additional miles, I actually logged 5.5 before starting the 18 mile loop.  That partly explains why I started to die on the 18-mile loop earlier than I would have expected.  The other part of the explanation is the fast pace Christy and Michael would set.

Nevertheless (and unaware that I'd already put myself in a deficit), I felt very good when I connected with Christy and Michael.  I was anticipating an 8:45-ish pace with them and looking forward to the pace help and scenic course.  I didn't run with the water belt on my preface run, so I got it from my car and donned it for the long trek; what a hassle that turned out to be.  I could tell right away something was wrong.  Besides carrying 24 extra ounces of weight, it was bouncy and kept loosening up.  Over the course of the first 3 miles, I kept fiddling with it trying to cinch it up and get it to quit bouncing.  At one point, the snap buckle came loose and I thought it had busted.  I used that opportunity to adjust it and get it snug, tying off the loose ends to try to keep it from working its way loose again.  That worked okay, but Christy and Michael had gotten ahead of me and I had to hoof it to catch up.

Not only that, but Christy was now leading us with a pace that was nearly 8:15/minute.  So here I am, hassling with the water, about 9 1/2 miles into my run, trying to match a pace that is too fast for me, and I'm lagging.  Mentally, I was already starting to have doubts about my ability to finish.

We turned onto Fiesta Island for a 4-5 mile loop, and I'm struggling.  Fiesta Island's not pretty.  My ankles are starting to bother me.  And Christy's pushing a tough 8:05 pace now.  I realize at that point that I'm carrying all this water and not drinking it.  Instead, it's weighing me down.  So I start to lighten the load on the belt and begin putting the water in me, knowing I'll be able to replenish at the Mission Bay park water fountains coming up.

That works because I feel refreshed now and the bottles aren't jostling on my waist belt anymore.  By the time we're leaving Fiesta Island, I've caught up to Christy and Michael, but not sure how I'm going to possibly cover the final 9 miles if they're going to keep that pace.  They're half way through their 18, but I'm now at 14.5 (thinking I'm at 13) and I need to slow down.  Michael was carrying four little 8 oz bottles of water, and I don't remember seeing either of them stop for water anywhere along the way.  Me?  I've already exhausted my 20 ozs myself and I stop to fill up at the first water fountain along the Mission Bay park path.  By the time I'm done and going again, they're about 200m ahead of me.  I lagged behind them along the length of the park.

At the north end, I decide I better make a pit stop at the public restroom or else I might be in trouble later.  Wow!  Nasty toilet, no privacy...thank God I'm carrying wipees.  I'm in and out of there in 60 seconds, I think.  By the time I'm on the path again, Michael and Christy are out of sight.  I'm actually kind of grateful since I don't feel the pressure to keep up anymore.

Ah, but when I got to the golf course at De Anza Cove, I'm starting to follow the other joggers, but Christy and Michael doubled back to make sure I didn't miss the turn onto Mission Bay Dr.  That's nice of them, but now I'm pressured again to keep up.  The next 3 miles are painful.  My hips are hurting.  My ankles are hurting.  My heart rate is anaerobic.  By the time I reach the park on Crown Pointe, Michael and Christy are way ahead, so I slow to a walk at a water fountain, eat my Sport Beans and fill my water bottles again.  I'm at 19 miles now and basically done.  There are about 4 miles left to go back to the parking lot.

Again, Michael and Christy doubled back to make they weren't going to leave me stranded.  I felt bad that they're having to gum up their run for me, and I assure them that I'm familiar with the rest of the route and they should just drop me if I lag.  But I do stick with them through the next couple of miles, at least until reaching the ocean waterfront again.  There are about 2 miles left to the route, but I'm spent.  I'm thinking I've put in 20 miles, though the truth is I'm at 21.5.  I bid goodbye to Christy and Michael as they complete their run and I start a recovery walk.

I walked for about 0.5 mile, downed some GU, finished off my water and decide to try to get my legs moving again.  I wound up covering the final mile and a half at a very light jog, which surprisingly felt much better than walking.  In the end, I covered  23 miles in 3 hrs and 15 minutes, not counting the 1/2 mile walk toward the end.

That sounds like I'm close to marathon distance, but I really couldn't fathom handling 3.2 more miles or 30 more minutes.  I had to be plodding along at 9:30/minute there at the end.  I was not feeling good over the last 10 miles. 

So that's the day.  I liked meeting Christy and Michael.  They're very steady runners and were challenging pace setters.  I don't see how they do it with so little water. I consumed 50 ounces and even that was short of what I think I need.

Now, the coming week is a bit of a cut back, concluding on Sunday with the La Jolla Half Marathon.