Disclaimer out of the way, yesterday I went to the Gold Coast for a 24k run. We met at Broadbeach and went south to Surfer's Paradise (6k) then looped back to drop off the 12k-ers before continuing north for another 6k. A rough breakdown of my thoughts while I ran went like this...
at km #2: My shin hurts. Yikes! I think I'm getting shin splints. Should I turn around and go back? Should I keep going?
at km #3: It's not getting better. I should go back. But I drove all this way to get here and there's only six of us running. Maybe I'll just go for a bit longer and see who else is turning back early.
at km #4: don't think about the shin. Keep the gait even and focus on how nice it is to run with such a small group. Imagine every breath you take is healing the pain in that shin.
at km #6: turning around! ... we all are. I'll just do 12k and call it quits. 12k is good.
at km #8: isn't it my luck that my arms are chaffing? I normally can go at least two hours before I start to chafe. Must be the humidity by the beach. Ugh, now I have to run like a gorilla to avoid the sting.
at km #10.5: Lost the group. On the plus side, my shin is feeling much better. Perfect, even. And double lucky that I know my way back from here.
at km #12: hmm. To stop or not to stop? A friend says she'll go for another 2k and turn around. That's 16k. Maybe I'll turn around there. (But as it turns out, my friend stops at the 12k mark and calls it a day. My shin is feeing so good I keep going). We dropped from 6 runners to 4. How could I leave them with an uneven group of 3?
at km #13: second wind has come on. Try and keep up, people! Ha ha, just teasing. But it's refreshing to be feeling strong at the front of the group rather than straggling at the back.
at km #18: final turn-around. 6k to go! Woohoo! Still feeling strong. It's amazing how much better I run when I don't hurt. For once I am the one pushing the group to keep going as I don't want to stop for too long - it's too hard to get started again! Okay, maybe I'm not exactly the one pushing the group, but I'm keeping up with the gal who is!
at km #20: I'm a bit over it. Ready to call it a day.
at km #21: okay, this is hard. My body doesn't want to go any more. I don't want to go any more! I'm done.
at km #22: I've been tricking myself for the past few km's by doing a countdown to the next km marker rather than the finish. So instead of "2k to go" it's "another 800m and then I'll be done another km". Sometimes, you need to trick yourself in those little ways. The awesome gal I run with is good at keeping me in check. Whenever my footsteps falter, whenever I start drifting behind she calls me back forward with a "how are you doing, Laura?" or a "keep doing your countdown for the next km marker and don't think of anything else". How awesome to have my own personal motivator!
at km #23.6: Woohoo! I start celebrating, to which my friend Cass cautions, "it's not over yet.". But it is. 24k down.
And afterwards, the awesome Cass and I walked into the ocean to cool off our leg muscles. What a great day to be alive! How lucky we are to have the ocean at our doorstep. Notice how I'm holding my poor chaffed arms away from me. Oooh, do they sting!
This wasn't a new distance, wasn't a new crowning achievement. But some days it's all I can do to finish, and finish I did! And before I hear any comments, yes I do take my shin soreness very seriously. Yes, I do try to follow my body's limitations and warning signals whenever possible. This is not a red light signal for running; this is a warning sign. I'm taking it as such.
Total distance: 24.00km
Total time: 2.29.45
Total elevation: 195m
Average pace: 6.14min/km
And when I got home and took off my shoes, I noticed something pretty cool. A blister on a blister! I've never had one before. Big blisters, small blisters, painful blisters, annoying blisters, and super swollen blisters. But never a blister on a blister! I thought this warranted a final picture.
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