Runner’s high

Miles: 20

Gels: 3

Fluids: Nuun and water

Entertainment: mostly music from Glee, that’s right – I love Glee!

I had another 20 mile run on the schedule this weekend.  My plan was to once again join the group I ran with last weekend.  Zain ended up waking up a bajillion times on Friday night so a 5am wake up on Saturday didn’t sound too appealing.

We got about an inch of snow on Friday night and were due for some more snow/rain during my run.  The sidewalks and roads were just wet so I wasn’t worried about running outside.  I did opt to just run on sidewalks in case the roads were slick.  I planned to run a big 9 mile loop twice then add some more mileage at the end.

Since last week’s 21 mile run went well, I felt more confident that I could handle the mileage.  Even though I had that confidence, I still had this little voice in the back of my mind wondering if I could make it through 20 miles alone.  The first few miles my body was just warming up and I couldn’t quite find my groove.

Then something wonderful happened.  At mile 5, it started to flurry and I felt myself slip into the elusive euphoric state that is the runner’s high.  I rarely experience the runner’s high and the times I have were only during long runs.  That light happy feeling lasted until mile 16.  That’s longer than it’s ever lasted before so I guess I should be thankful!

At mile 16, I started to slip out of my runner’s high and back to reality that I still had 4 seemingly long miles left.  At mile 17, I was really done.  Since I was running my 9 mile loop twice, I arrived back near my house at mile 18.  My warm cozy living room was calling to me.  I just wanted to run back inside and lay down on the floor.  That’s how tired I was.  I pushed myself as hard as I could for the last 2 miles to just get them over with.  My average overall pace was 9:43 with mile 19 at 9:01 and mile 20 at 8:51.  I must have had a little bit of energy left in my legs to be able to pull that off.

The end of marathon training finally feels like it’s in sight.  I only have to run 15 miles this weekend.  After that I’ll do my longest run: 22 miles, then it’s taper time.  It’s starting to feel real that I’m going to run another marathon in less than 5 weeks!

Have you ever experienced the runner’s high?

Apparently, my hubby experiences the runner’s high on every long run.  Am I doing something wrong that that doesn’t happen to me?! Sometimes I feel like I can barely lift my feet off the ground on a long run!