Last long run of the training program. Woo hoo!
We met down at Ken-Gar, where it all began with a 7 mile run on Mother's Day. The group has dwindled as some have completed their marathons and others have dropped out but we had a decent group of 12:30s. It was nice to be back on an old familiar trail, one that I'd been sick of seeing months ago but was grateful to encounter yesterday since I knew it so well.
I started the day feeling pretty awful, I had a headache and a stomach problem that I just couldn't shake. Around mile 2.5 I was feeling a little better, good enough to skip the bathroom stop and take off my jacket. But the headache didn't subside and the constant beeping of one of the runner's Garmins was like a knife in my eardrum and I just couldn't take it. I abandoned my dear friend to let her run with Beepy and I chugged along with a few other members of the group.
I often tend to lose some steam (mostly mental) after the turn-arounds, something about having to go back the same way always seems a little draining. But not this time, in fact Eugene and I pushed the group to go faster than we had been running. Not crazy fast, but a decent pace that we were able to maintain while chatting with Robin who ran his marathon in Chicago two weeks ago. I think we only stopped for a brief walk break at intersections and for a few seconds at the turn around, it was a pretty solid run.
Around mile 8.5 I started to feel pretty awful again, I actually wasn't sure I'd make it back to a bathroom but figured my best chance was to speed up and get there as fast as I could. I blew past everyone else in our group, especially in the last half mile, just to get it over with. Despite feeling like crap I ran pretty well, certainly not my fastest 10 miles (that was 1:55 during the Philly half) but a good time for our last easy long run. Less than a week to M Day!
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