16 miles with my Sweetheart.

Will and I have decided to do our longer runs together starting with the 16 miler this past Friday.  We had to get a sitter to watch the boys. What? Seems like a waste of a perfectly good sitter, huh?  Usually getting a sitter means we are headed to eat sushi and hit the town. Not this time!  Will left work a little early so that we could get as much running in as we could before it got dark.  We got on the road at about 3:20 pm.  Can I just say that it is not easy to wait all day to go on a run this long!  I was anxious before this run because of my bad experience on the 14 mile run 2 weeks ago.  So, the whole day I was downing water, stretching, and tying and re-tying my shoes.  I was doing everything I could to make all the stars align so it would be a perfect run day.

Miles 1-8 were pretty fun. We had a lot to talk about so that kept us distracted.  Our pace was steady and the weather was cool and cloudy.  Everything felt like it was falling into place. My legs felt fresh.  A good start! Nothing spectacular happened. Oh, except for the fact that I peed outside for the first time since I was, like, 5.  That was weird!  We were absolutely the only people out on the trail but I still had a REALLY hard time scoping out the right spot to go. But from what I hear, I earned some major "real runner" cred from that little caper. Sweet!

At about mile 8, I remembered that I had my blackberry with me and I could play some tunes for the both of us to listen to while we ran. It felt like we had a boom box following us around. I think a bit of music was just what I needed. My pace was definitely faster the second half of the run.  Ran a negative split by, like, 4 minutes.  We ran the last 3 miles in pretty much complete darkness. Not fun! Although, that probably really helped my pace, too, because I just wanted to get home!

Final Stats:
16 miles
2:36:29
9:46 min/mile pace

Not bad!  I am noticing that my longer runs are getting a bit slower but I'm really not worried about it.  My only real goal is to finish this marathon without walking.

Oh, before I forget- after this run I took a quick dip in ice and then quickly got ready to go to a wedding reception (heels and all!) but Will was really not doing too well. He looked downright ill!  By the time we got to the reception, he was spent. He ended up throwing up twice before we left there!  Poor guy! He said he really struggled the last couple of miles of the run. We suspect it was a bit of dehydration and not enough food eaten earlier in the day.  Needless to say, we left the reception after our brief appearance and went home to nurse him back to health. A couple Gatorades and some McNuggets and he was good as golden.  Ha ha! I think he'll be better prepared before the next long run.

Only 7 more weeks 'til the marathon!