NYC Marathon Training Week 14

Miles: 38.51 Lockouts: 1 Endorphins: 123, 343, 569

That was it! The last of the high mileage weeks. Now its time for the taper — those weeks leading up to the actual race day where you run less and repair your muscles from all the pounding over the last 14 weeks. Truth be told, I’ve never really done a taper. For my half marathons, I usually increase my long runs up to 10 miles the week before the race, then head out on race day for 13.1 and hope for the best. This should be interesting.

This past week was good. I’m thankful that Dear Hubby has come home from his travels, and I could get back into a some sort of routine. Who would have thought I would miss a 5 a.m. run? I also switched up from running with water bottles on my belt, to using a CamelBak contraption. This allowed me to carry twice as much water as before, and not have to stop to refill when running less than ten miles. Score! After testing it out on Tuesday’s eight mile run, I made some tweaks and decided to take it on the last long run of the training: 20 miles.

I have been getting out of bed every Saturday morning at 4:30 a.m. for 14 weeks. For fun. 

This week, I got lazy — I slept until 4:45.

Its staying dark later, so no big deal. And now in October, it was a chilly 74 degrees when I started (that’s Florida humor, folks.) I set out with my CamelBak and not much of a plan – which is highly unusual for me. I’m not a wing it kinda gal. I have to plan to be spontaneous. But on Saturday, I actually wasn’t sure which way to go when I hit the corner at mile 2: turn right and run loops near the house to refill the water, or; turn left and improvise. I turned left.

I headed north for six miles to I-595 where I knew there was a newly paved GreenWay for runners and bikers that headed west. I ran for a bit and decided to turn back south on what I *thought* was Flamingo Rd. (To my credit, I had already run 8 miles, and the sun had just come up.) It took me 2 miles or so to realize that I was on the wrong damn road! But it was gorgeous. There was a bike path that was off the main road, and down next to a canal. It backed up to million dollar homes, and was out of the sun. It was such a serene place. Soon, the trail split off into wooded park. Unfortunately, that’s just where my water finally ran out, so I had to double back and head to civilization where I knew there was a gas station. The little old guy who works every Saturday asked me, “So, running 10 miles again?” I just smiled, said sure, and bought a gallon of water. I was at mile 12. I used the next 8 miles to run home and a loop around my neighborhood where I knew it was shaded.

I finished strong, everything was right with the world. I walked proudly up to my house, only briefly noting that Dear Hubby’s truck wasn’t in the driveway. As turned the handle to open the front door – BAM – I walked right into it….BECAUSE. IT. WAS. LOCKED.

Surely this is a joke. Maybe he ran to the store to get coffee. It was only 10 a.m. JEEZUS. ONE OF THE KIDS MUST BE HOME? RIGHT? I JUST RAN 20 FREAKIN’ MILES AND I’M OUT OF WATER AND LOCKED OUT OF MY F*&K!ING HOUSE?!?!?!

I calmly pulled out my phone. I dialed. “I DON’T HAVE A KEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” is all I remember coming out in sobs and/or profane screams. I really don’t remember what excuse was said. I refilled the CamelBak with the hose and put my feet up on the deck recliners. I think I was asleep when DH got home to let me in and hand me a Gatorade. Wisely, he immediately left me alone.

I managed to pull myself out of the recliner and waddled to the shower where I discovered all sorts of new chafed areas. Very sensitive chafed areas! Oh well, it was done. I lathered, rinsed, repeated. I crawled into my bed sans clothesand immediately fell into a 3 hour sleep. No ice bath, no Advil, no beer. When everyone returned and I woke up close to 2 p.m., I felt pretty darned good! I even swept and mopped the house later that day.

And that was it. If getting locked out of my house is the worst thing that happens to me this marathon training, I am doing fabulous.