The thought of running 14+ miles several months ago seemed like an impossibility. Last week, though, I found myself actually looking forward to my weekend long run. So...early Saturday morning, before the sun came up, I hit the road at Stone Mountain. My thoughts on the run:
Bad News/Good News: The bad news is that I've mapped the loop around Stone Mountain on both Gmaps Pedometer and MapMyRun.com. I've also driven around it to triple-check and sure enough, it is actually only 4.8 miles. The distance from mile marker 4 to mile marker 5 is short by about 0.2 miles. No problem, though, as this can be accounted for, so my 14-mile run became a simple 3-loop run for a total of 14.4 miles. The extra 0.4 miles was just a bonus!
Best Feeling: The best feeling of the run, besides finishing, was finishing that first 4.8 mile loop and not feeling tired at all. Six months ago, one lap around the mountain was all I could handle. The marathon training is paying off.
The Regulars: It has taken a couple of months, but there are now a handful of people that are at Stone Mountain just about every Saturday morning that I recognize from week to week and now recognize me. There were at least three different people that I passed going in the opposite direction (I like to run clockwise) on both sides of the mountain several times that smiled and waved each time. It's good to be a "regular."
Bad News/Good News: The bad news is that I've mapped the loop around Stone Mountain on both Gmaps Pedometer and MapMyRun.com. I've also driven around it to triple-check and sure enough, it is actually only 4.8 miles. The distance from mile marker 4 to mile marker 5 is short by about 0.2 miles. No problem, though, as this can be accounted for, so my 14-mile run became a simple 3-loop run for a total of 14.4 miles. The extra 0.4 miles was just a bonus!
Best Feeling: The best feeling of the run, besides finishing, was finishing that first 4.8 mile loop and not feeling tired at all. Six months ago, one lap around the mountain was all I could handle. The marathon training is paying off.
The Regulars: It has taken a couple of months, but there are now a handful of people that are at Stone Mountain just about every Saturday morning that I recognize from week to week and now recognize me. There were at least three different people that I passed going in the opposite direction (I like to run clockwise) on both sides of the mountain several times that smiled and waved each time. It's good to be a "regular."
Magic Beans: I've been reading a lot about maintaining energy during long runs, and up until Saturday had never stopped for water or nutrition in the middle of my runs. Things like PowerBars and Energy Gels don't appeal to me, so I tried these:
Sport Beans by Jelly Belly. I read good reviews about them so I picked up a couple of packages last week. I ate one pack at the end of each loop around the mountain, and they definitely helped a lot. They are a little bigger than a normal jelly bean and have a little different taste, and they are packed with electrolytes and vitamins to keep your energy up. I will definitely be getting more of these soon.Next Saturday will be a 15-mile long run, and then the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day. I can't wait!
5 comments:
I'm excited for you and commend you on your training! Think about leaving a bottle of water on your car bumper (when at Stone Mtn) to have after the first and second loop. We loved just walking at Stone Mtn and need to get back.
Joy, I had no idea you guys had a blog til Jenny showed it to me this weekend!! So I will look forward to reading more about your running... that is fantastic about your marathon training!!
Whoops... just realized you are doing the training, Scott!! Haha! It's still fantastic!
I liked your magic beans Scott! That cracks me up! Blakely
sounds like things are going well with your training scott. good luck with the half marathon next week!
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