"Think I can bike tonight or do I need to be Cari strong for tomorrow." Those were the words Phil sent me in a text last night in reference to our 16 mile run this morning. This scared me. I did not feel strong last night and certainly did not feel strong this morning when I woke up after being up most of the night with coughing fits. However, I was ready to trick myself and Phil into thinking I could do the run. As we were walking out the door I was constantly silencing all the voices saying I would be too slow or that maybe we should do 13 and not 16. Sometimes it just takes getting started for the ugly voices to disappear and other times you spend the whole run trying to ignore them: thankfully they disappeared and I was just glad to be out.
The forecast called for ugly thunderstorms all day so we knew we would likely get wet - it was just a matter of time. Within the first mile I was sweating due to the humidity, enough that Phil commented: "Is that water dripping from your elbow." I wanted to respond with something cleaver like 'no, it's liquid gold' or 'no, it's slowness leaving me." Did I say either - nope. The rain came at 12.5 miles and lasted until the end. We only had about a mile from 13-14 where it was a downpour, the rest was just light and steady.
The radar after the run. Not very impressive but that one mile was super heavy.
Although it was windy (22mph) it didn't feel that windy except for mile 8 and 9. This is when we came out of the neighborhoods and ran down an open road. At the turn around we benefited from the tail wind. Phil started to struggle around 8 and we slowed it down just slightly. At our 10 mile refill water bottle stop our average was 9.13. Much slower than other weeks but we were both still happy with it. We dropped the pace a little more the remaining 6 miles. My quads, which had been doing great started to become really fatigued around mile 11. I was thankful for the slow down and was reminded that it's tough to run fast when your body is fatigued and warn out even if your mind and cardio wants to take off. I was so proud of Phil for pushing through and finishing even when he was tired and weak. It is these types of runs that build mental toughness. He made sure to let me know he was proving his mental toughness and didn't want to slow down anymore. What a great training partner. Even though he was struggling he didn't really show it and I would have never known if he hadn't said so: he's tough.
Phil post workout. Tired and hiding. Next time he will not wear those shorts.
They kept falling and he had to run holding them up the whole time. No ideal.
Glad it was him and not me.
Phil's toes. Bring on the blisters and the gross feet. These will look pretty when
compared to post race pictures.
Sometimes lying to yourself pays off and you enjoy the run. I may not always believe I am strong but I do believe I can work hard and push myself to the limits. I can convince myself that I can do it, that I will enjoy it, and it will make me stronger. And most of the time I finish and it's all true: not a lie. I did it, I enjoyed it, and it made me stronger. That is an awesome feeling! It is always worth stepping out the door and giving it a go. And when it decides to pour on my runs I embrace it and let it wash away my doubts that I can't do it.
Happy to have finished the run in the rain. It has been a long time since my last
rainy run. There aren't many things better than jumping in a puddle coming off a
sidewalk and thinking 'take that' road.
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