A 16 miler

Ok, I did it. I ran my 16mile run and it was not too bad. The weather was very nice and felt pretty good for the most part. Here is how it went.

I started out at about 10am. My plan was to run an 8-mile loop from my house, stop and get a drink and GU, and then do another 8-mile loop. The first few miles were kinda tough, nothing hurt, just felt a bit sluggish. The wind was a bit stonger than I expected. weather.com said it was about 10mph. The sidewalks in the area are only partially cleared of snow, so in some cases I ran on the street, or parking lots, and other time I just ran over the snow. As the run progressed I kept a 7:50m/m pace, which felt comfortable. I stopped after 6 miles to stretch my legs and at 7 miles to tie my shoe.

Got back home, got a drink and a GU (and some nipple protection I forgot), and was back out. I felt fine for miles 9 and 10. I stopped and stretched the IT band at mile 11.5. At mile 12 I was running over snow, when I slipped and twisted my knee, twice. I swore so loud I think the passing cars slowed to make sure I was ok. I slowed the pace down, but my knee was ok. I stopped again to stretch at mile 14, but still no pain in my knee. My IT bands felt tight, but no pain. I finished the run at 16.08 miles with an average pace of 7:56m/m. The garmin said 2:07:33, but I was out for about 2:15 including all stops.

Overall, I'm very happy with this long run. I'm also happy my knee was pain free. I think the stretching and foam rolling really helped. I also think going out slower made a difference. I still need to go to the PT, but it'll have to wait until after the big snow storm this weekend.

Next weekend I'm suppose to do 18miles on Saturday. Yikes