Saturday, September 10th

Weather - Pitch black out, 67 degrees when we started.  Sunny and 74 degrees when we ended.  Humidity was 97% at the beginning of the run.  The humidity very slowly dropped towards the 4th hour of the run.

Clothing - Black running shorts (compression, biker style), Short sleeve tech shirt (green courage shirt),  and Camelbak.  Sans underwear!  Also, wore new socks.  Like them very much.  Will post another entry on what they look like.

Nutrition -   Ate a banana and cliff bar before the run. During the run:  75+ oz powerade/water mix. A GU at mile 5, mile 10 and mile 15.

Route -  Started at the intersection of Lee Chapel Rd on Ox Road.  Went 5 miles down Ox past  Burke Centre Parkway and turned around.  Then went 5 miles down Ox past the Occoquan bridge and turned around. 

Distance Completed:  20 miles

Time:  Started at 5:11am, took 4 hours, 18 minutes (not including the 3 stops I made).  Overall time was 4 hours, 40 minutes.  One fun fact, at the 17 mile mark, I was 5 minutes ahead of my time from when we did the 17 mile training run.  Yay!

T., J.W. and I met at 5:00 am to get the 20 miles done.  We hung together running for the first 5 miles.  Then I left the trail and went to the McDonald's (By Burke Centre Parkway and Ox) to pee.  It was finally starting to get light out, so that was good for the next 5 miles.

At the 10 mile mark. I stopped for about 4 minutes and refilled my camelbak and had a GU.

Also, I stopped at the gas station (at mile 12.62) to use the bathroom.  Again, I only peed, so I am very happy there were absolutely no stomach issues on this run.  Yay!

One big problem!  At mile 15 after turning around, we had approx. 3/4 mile completely uphill.  Oh my!  This was not expected and completely made me lose my mojo.  Had to walk all of it before attempting to run again.

Anything I'd do different?   Yes, 2 things.  I made a big-time rookie mistake and forgot to charge my Garmin last night.  I got the low battery message with 2+ hours still to go in the run.  I have no idea how it miraculously stayed charged enough for the entire run, but I got very lucky.  Also, I am not going to wear my green shirt again on long runs.  I think I need a little bit longer of a sleeve, as there was the beginning of some wierd rubbing on the left side, upper part of my arm.  Nothing too bad though.

Overall, I am very happy how well this run went. I tried to learn from my 17 miler and corrected a few things.  First thing I did was the lose the underwear.  I think this helped greatly.  I also used body glide in the area that had the bad rubbing before.  Even though I didn't get blisters during the last long run, I got new socks to try and I think they are wonderful.  Lastly, I took 2 Advil about 40 minutes prior.  To aid recovery, I came home and had a chocolate milk.   So far, so good on how I feel right now as I type this. 

Mid-week runs - ran 5 miles on Tuesday, ran 4 miles on Thursday; both on the treadmill at the gym.  Overall, this is the biggest mileage week I've ever had -- 29 miles.  Yowzer!!!