Today's first run (16 miles) was another hot one, I kept getting slower and slower, and doubts about my sanity became more and more persistent. Coach Mark has never been a big fan of my plan to do a 180-mile week prior to The Run. But I can't imagine launching into Day 2 of the real deal and having these kinds of doubts surface. I definitely need to get the "Oh my gawd what the heck am I doing?" questions out of the way now! One good thing about the morning run: my younger son (Paul) came out on his bike and met me half way through the run. Delightful!
The second run of the day commenced about 2.5 hours after the first one ended. I was a bit worried about the shortness of the gap, but it's the price I had to pay after sleeping in this morning to catch up from yesterday's 4 a.m. start time. During the interim between the first and second runs, I did have enough time to spray down my legs with icey cold water and to eat decently - and then even had about 20 minutes to stretch out on the couch, legs propped up, and read the newspaper. Still, when I first set out on run #2, the machinery wasn't too happy. My tummy was especially unhappy, once again. About an hour into the run, I popped a ginger chew which settled things down quite well. Also about an hour into the run, my legs started aching. (They waited until about two hours into the run yesterday afternoon and this morning.) Again, the doubts surfaced.
Then....things just started coming around. A slight wind picked up, the temperature dropped a bit, I headed off on some trails I hadn't been able to run since mid-December, evening quiet began to descend...and I found myself at peace. An hour more of running during the sunset, and another 30-mile day in the books.
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