Guana River Round Two

Yesterday was perfect.  I started the morning with a quick 1 hour trainer ride while watching the Gate River Run on the television.  I had a decent cadence and was enjoying pushing.  Watching running races can be fun and this one was good motivation.  I really wanted to go further but got off as I only had about 45 min before Phil was picking me up to go run 26.5 miles.  

Sticking with tradition (ie done once the time before) I had Phil stop at Chick-fil-a for a biscuit.  We arrive 2 min after breakfast hours ended but they still had some remaining.  Score.  It’s the secret weapon.   I am still in shock that Phil has never had one of these.

  

We didn’t have much of plan starting off: it was my second time at Guana and Phil’s first.  The rough plan was to do an out and back and refuel at the car at mile 18.  The was because we (1) wanted to try to get to the other parking lot to see if there was water, (2) mile 18 is a little after where Phil’s knee has been acting up this week, and (3) we couldn’t carry any more water.  I had my backpack and Phil at my waist pack and two hand helds. 

At mile two I had to stop and take a lifesaving 800mg motrin.  My left knee and hip were acting up and I wasn’t going to deal with it.  The first 1.5 is the only soft sand and soft sand and I don’t get along.  Luckily it didn’t bother me at all after that point.  Soon after we passed where the wild hogs were last time and didn’t see them.  You could however see where they tear up the trail.  Phil was pushing me at this point as he was feeling really strong.

Near the top of the park we ran into two men who were lost looking for their wives on horseback.  We hadn’t seen them.  They were trying to just get back to the parking lot.  After asking, they said there was water where they parked.  Perfect.  We were at the point where we needed to turn around or if we explored we would HAVE to find the water.  We’ll we did neither.  Uh Oh.  The trail/road splits into three sections.  We ran to the dead in of two of them.  No luck.  The third…well it was muddy.  We made it about a mile in and I was annoyed but Phil was frustrated.  It was getting worse and worse.  We called it.  I knew it would be tough getting back.  

Heading back I wanted to do the trails and not the road.  Same distance just parallel.  The problem is I didn’t know how far we had to go.  What I thought would be a little more than 5 was 7 miles.  We should have gotten to the car a little after 20 but instead it was 23.  

Phil was doing great until mile 15 when his IT band started acting up.  Thankfully he hasn’t experienced any injuries before but unfortunately that means he doesn’t have the past to help him determine how much he can push through before pain turns into true pain and worsening the injury.  By mile 18 he was limping pretty bad and he called it by mile 20.  Although I felt great I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him with neither of us being familiar with the surroundings.  Plus walking is beneficial and we both needed fluids. 

While running I had very little stomach issues (success!).  Three separate occasions I had slight pains but they went away in a few min.  The most painful part was walking.  We refilled at 23 and continued walking to get our total 26.5.  The last two miles Phil wanted to try to run and I just couldn’t get started.  I was soooo salty and hadn’t really eaten since we started walking.  My body wouldn’t go. 

We finished of the run with some sit ups.  We started this earlier in the week and have kept it going after each run.  Hopefully it will pay off because I have lost all of my core strength since I’m not biking outdoors any more.  

Thankfully last night I had no pains and wasn’t sore at all.  I love that feeling!  No if I just didn’t have a bruised nail that I would bet I will loose it would have been the perfect day. Wild life spotted: armadillos, baby alligator, big alligators, bald eagle, and deer!