20 mile run

Emer O'Shea and I completed our 20 mile run last night but of course a 20 mile run wouldn't be a 20 mile run without some adventure and drama.

Our run from Newton into Boston along the Charles River was really great.  The weather was great, we were full of energy, no sore joints, no pain. We met a food truck festival, saw all the people out on the boats, ran past the Hatch-shell and reached our 11 mile mark just as the sun was going down - gorgeous. All was good.  We took our energy gels, drank our water and were feeling great, Chicago here we come!.  We turned around for our 9 mile return run and a plan to walk the last couple of miles.

I think we made a few mistakes. Hey - that's what the 20 mile rehearsal is all about. We ran too fast for the first half, we didn't eat or drink enough, running at 4pm through dinner time wasn't a good idea and running in the dark wasn't a good idea.

At about mile 14, I started to feel bad. I was really light headed, and felt like getting sick, I had to stop and lower my head, really thought I was going to pass out.  It felt like a very chaotic few minutes. Emer of course bumped into someone she knew, we were at a busy bridge junction, cars everywhere, it suddenly got really windy and dark and I was on my knees ready to keel over. People were stopping to ask me if  I was OK. I took a Gel quickly and after a few minutes felt better and we took off running again, but much slower.   It will be forever remembered as my "Scott Jurek" moment. The Ultra marathoner is famous for passing out/ throwing up on his long runs, only to get up a few minutes later and start running again.

We continued our run, feeling good again, tired but hitting our 15 mile mark. Then suddenly the Prudential Tower appeared in front of us.  We were running  back into Boston.  How could that happen, we were running along the river all the time, how could we have switched direction.
We had another 30 minutes of confusion. I really had no idea where we were,  there were too many cars, it was dark, couldn't see anything except that damn Prudential Building that appeared everywhere, no matter what direction we ran.

I followed Emer's direction, just hoping to avoid another "Scott Jurek" moment. I had full faith in her getting us home, I just didn't want her to have to carry me home on her back.  We had both made a commitment to get to the 20 mile mark, no matter what. We eventually figured out that we had, in our delirium, actually ran across a bridge and headed back into Boston, It was so dark we didn't even notice going over the river.

We got back on track, but had made a detour between 1/2 and 1 mile. We passed the 20 mile mark before reaching Watertown square.  Had a little celebration in the dark and then faced our 3 mile walk home.  The walk back was harder than any miles in the race. It sort of blows out my theory that I can always walk the last few miles. - not so easy as it seems.

We did get home, feeling very sore and very sorry for ourselves. It was 10 o clock, we had been out for 6 hours, our families were mad with us,  but it will be one of those runs we will talk about for a long time.

Ready for Chicago, whatever happens it will be an adventure.