Time On Your Feet (And Food Out Of Your Belly) (Run 65)

Saturday I completed week 13 with a less-than-perfect run. I had gone camping for the weekend, and as I overpacked Friday afternoon I thought about bringing pre-run food for Saturday's long run. Sadly, I only thought about, but did not act on the thought. It's been no secret that my stomach has been sensitive to certain things on long runs--mostly sugar. I have found that if I eat a wheat english muffin or wheat bagel with a little crunchy Adams peanut butter (or the occasional Nature Valley Granola Bar) about two-hours pre-long run, my stomach is fine.

Saturday morning, I tested that--with a huckleberry pancake (about half of it) covered in peanut butter (not Adams) and syrup. The syrup may have been the downfall. I laced up my Sauconys and headed out around the lake with my running partner du jour, Andrew Roberts. The first couple of miles were fine--it was a nice, but not too warm morning, and despite the fact that Andrew was running at about a minute-per-mile faster pace than I was (but, running back every so often to keep from pulling too far ahead), the run was going well. Then, something--the pancakes, the peanut butter, the syrup--caught up to me. Literally. I stood on the side of the road, heaving up my pancake, and urging Andrew to go on ahead and not watch me get sick.

After losing the pancakes, I felt lighter and ready to continue running. I had some water (desperately wanted a toothbrush), and we walked a bit until my tummy settled. We continued to run again, but my stomach would just not calm down. My lungs, my feet, and my legs were all ready to keep running, but my stomach was not. My type-A, can't do things I'm not good at, hate to fail, personality could not handle this, and I fought back tears of frustration about my poor run. Fortunately, my running partner was much more positive, and while he stayed out of my line of breath, he encouraged me to keep going. We ended up hiking/walking a trail all the way back around the lake (where, I emptied the remainder of my stomach contents--water and Apple-Cinnamon Carb Boom) for a total of between 10 and 12 miles.

While I only ran 5 or so miles (instead of the 8 I was scheduled to run), I did get "time on my feet" as my coaches have said--a considerable amount of time at that. I certainly won't be bragging about my pace on this run (or my breath, looks, or attitude), but I kept going, and sometimes that's all that matters.

We'll see what tomorrow's 50 minute tempo run brings.