Jenni in Training

It was hot but it was also humid, the latter being the real kicker. Half a mile out, there wasn’t one person in our group who wasn’t drenched. We ran from 9th street and Prospect Park West down to 4th avenue and then left on 4th all the way to the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, turned around and went all the way back to Flatbush and then weaved our way back to the Williamsburg Bridge. 18 miles. I’m not going to lie, it hurt. A lot.

There were times during the run when I thought I might break down in tears, I thought I might fall over and my legs would not carry me any further, I thought my knees might explode in pain, I thought my head my explode from the heat. Jinny reminded me there are ups and downs and that an up was coming. It never did. The downs far out weighed the ups on this run.

As I hobbled home, I was on the verge of tears wondering what I had done to myself and how I could possibly tack another 8 miles onto that distance for the full marathon. Sorry, 8.2 miles. Today was a first for the 18 miles and it was also a first for an element of the recover, the ice bath. My lower back, hips, knees, ankles, feet; everything was screaming so the coaches suggested I buy 2 bags of ice and toss it into the tub with some water for an ice bath. They also suggested I wear a sweatshirt when I did it, boy am I glad I had that sweatshirt on. After the initial shock and scream it felt great. Hooray for the ice bath!

All in all, I think I will be ok. I might need to not run tomorrow. My knees might not cooperate even if I wanted to try. Oh, and wait, another first. Chaffing! I have been so lucky to not have problems with chaffing but along the top of my sports bra I am in some rough shape, my poor skin. What am I DOING to myself? Ice baths, chaffing, what’s next? Bloody nips? Jesus no.

The bottom line is that I thought I had known what a bad run was but after today, I think I can honestly say I now know what a bad run is. It’s when you want to cry, scream, fall over in pain, but KEEP RUNNING. Again, what am i DOING? We did make the most stops along the run for extra water, stop lights, etc.- but I still finished the 18 miles in 3 hours of total run time. That’s an average of 10 min mile (when running- not including stops). I’ll take it.