I want my mommy!

16 mile run.
Total Time: 02:48:45
Where: Chicago lakefront

About three miles longer than I'd ever run.

This was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. The heat and humidity- close to 85 deg. with 50% humidity- made it extremely tough. It got to the point around mile 12 where I actually started hallucinating, thinking the base of the light poles were drinking fountains!

I made an executive decision on Friday night to run Saturday, instead of Sunday, which seemed the cooler of the two days. I also decided to take the train instead of driving, which would have brought my start time closer to 6 a.m. instead of the blazing hot 8 a.m.

There was a Cubs game in town, a latin music festival in Grant Park, and a triathlon going on each day which made me decide to take the train, bringing me in later than I wanted.

So how did it go?

Slow. The first 8 miles into the wind was nice and the pace was easy at 9:30/minute, but as soon as I turned back north, the wind was at my back and it got really tough to stay cool. The heat and humidity really sucks the energy out of you. After mile 12, I ended up running for seven minutes, and walking for three minutes to hydrate.

Overall everything went well. I did manage to get a blister on my foot, but may haven been because my shoe got wet from all of the water I was pouring on my head. I learned quite a bit, and hope to apply it on my 20 mile run next weekend.

Twenty miles. 20, 20, 20. Two-zero.... Holy....

It still amazes me how the human body can cope with such extreme conditions given the distance I ran today. Despite some rather new, sometimes scary, and interesting experiences my body went through today, I managed to come out of it mostly unscathed. I think I'm doing something right being so new at this!

It was one hell of a challenge, and I'm super excited to have finished it despite all of the pain.

Coming up this week:
Mon: 4 miles
Tue: Cross train
Wed: 8 miles speedwork
Thur: 2 miles
Fri: rest
Sat: 20 miles