Double Trouble

Last week I started a post titled:  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.  I was going to tell you all about my 20 mile run that I had completed on Sunday, October 20.  For me it wasn't that great of a run.  However I tend to stick with my plan once I mentally say that I'm going to do it.  So here's my route from that 20 miler.

When it was all said & done I was really glad I had gotten it done. It was just during the run I was having one issue after another that had me feeling defeated.  Some other time I'll have to lament about the bad & ugly.  I guarantee it's an issue that's not going away any time soon.

I do have a 50k coming up in 2 weeks so it's nice to have gotten a long run in before then, plus if I can, I want to be adding chunks of mileage to my 2013 Run This Year goal.

Fast forward 5, yes FIVE, days & I was ready to take on another long run.  Ok, wait.....ready may not be the right word, but I was willing to do it again.  I had reservations because my knee had began to bother me at the end of my last long run.  However it didn't bother me too much during the week (maybe a tweak here or there, nothing alarming).

On this particular day (Friday) I was missing out on a racing opportunity with my running partner & some friends.  It was my choice to miss this race, but I was bummed about it.  So I made myself a deal that if I was going to miss this race (and opportunity to be with my running partner that I miss so much) then I was going to give myself a memorable big run.

What I had chosen to do instead was go on our ladies retreat with our church.  It was being held out at Camp Summit, one of my favorite places to be.  It's about 20 miles from Galesburg (depending on which way you drive) so I decided to run out to our retreat spot.  Here was my route:

Looks pretty boring, huh?  It was far from it!  Most of my route took me up Hwy 150.  I was a little nervous about running up a 2 lane highway for that long of a distance.  I mean, it's a far cry from the Interstate (which is illegal to run down), but around here 150 is still a main highway that can have a lot of traffic.  Not to mention vehicles of all sizes (even semis) are flying along at 55 mph (at least, some maybe faster if they are speeding).  The route also had some hills along the way.  Nothing terribly steep, but good long inclines.  And the million dollar question:  would my body hold up on another (almost) 20 mile run?


For the most part it was very uneventful.  I had several lengths of time that I had no traffic at all.  The scenery was pretty with the fall colors in full bloom.  My body responded much better to any bad & ugly that was ready to rear it's head.  The last 5 miles or so were a lot more challenging, I was ready to be done!!  I walked a few times, but that just prolonged my finishing so I kept going.  Normally I'm ocd about uneven distances.  I wanted more than anything to get to 20 miles, but I was d.o.n.e!


I don't expect to normally be running to 20 mile runs in less than a week.  My body held up ok, but I realize it's a fine line that I don't want to cross over into injury-ville.  Happy I completed these runs?  Yes.  Ready to do it again soon?  No.

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