Tuesday, July 03, 2012

How I Started My Day Running 18 Miles and Ended Up in the Hospital

That title got your attention, didn't it?  Actually, this is nothing like my last trip to the hospital

As I mentioned in the previous post, I got up super early on Saturday morning and headed out for my long run, 18 miles, around 6:00am.  The plan was always to get up this early.  Frankly, I started a little later than I wanted, but my stomach was not in agreement with me and required a little more attention than I had planned for the morning.  Anyway, Dave also got up to accompany me on the bike.  As we headed out I mentioned how hot and humid it was and Dave said, "Really? I'm actually a little cold."  Not fair. 

The plan was 18 miles at marathon pace plus 45 seconds per mile ...carry the one....that's an 8:32 pace.  I put my Garmin to average pace for the full 18 miles and had it set to between an 8:25-8:40 pace.  Per normal, I started slow and worked my way into this pace.  No kidding, it took me a full 8 miles to get the average down to an 8:40. 

Like I said, it was hot.  HOTTTTTT!!!!  Saturday's high was supposed to be in the mid-90s and the humidity was full-on.  Even at 6:00am I was already miserable.  When I reached 9 mile and was ready for the turn around, I actually said to Dave, "where's the breeze".  No lie, the winds immediately picked up and the sky got dark.  I continued on for the next mile.  Then there was a flash of lightning, a rumble of thunder, and I quickly picked up the pace.  I saw what the storm did on Friday, there was no way I was going to be stuck out in that kind of storm.  Luckily, the only structure in sight was a local surgical hospital and also luckily it had power (no kidding, it may have been the only building in New Albany with power).  Neither Dave nor I had our phones with us so we asked the security guard if he could look up the radar for us.  Of course, with the storms, they had no networks but he was somehow able to pull it up on his phone.  Yep, a big blob of red over Central Ohio.  Awesome.

As it turned out, it wasn't that bad and within 15 minutes we were back running again.  And I kinda felt like I had gotten a second wind.  My times had now dropped to an 8:29 average and I was feeling great.  I caught up to a group of guys who were training for a different marathon and we spent about a mile running together until we went different directions.

All in all, it was a great run.  The toe is a little tender but I'm not in any pain.  I'm feeling pretty good about marathon training and am glad I'm back running so quickly.

4 comments:

Andrea Hill said...

18 miles, dang that's awesome!! I was just wondering how the ole toe was doing.

..:danielle:.. said...

im sure that trip to the hospital was much less expensive ;) i left my house 2 years ago on the hottest day of the year for an 18 miler at 3:45am, and ended up on my living room floor after 12 thinking i was dying (and having heat stroke...) good times. way to get the miles done that you did!

Jamie said...

If you are going to end up in the hospital, that is a pretty good way to do it.

Keep the training progress coming! I'm still working on securing your lodging! (and getting closer)

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

Wow, you are pretty much back to normal! That's awesome. I am glad your toe is cooperating.