MTT Week 17- Sixteen Miles...

...and a bit of a recap of the past few weeks.

Hello all!  I know I never blogged about MTT week 16, and I'm sorry.  I've just been so very, very tired (more on that in a moment).  The truth is that week 16 was amazing simply because it was such a non-event.  Let me explain.

Week 16 was a 10 mile run.  My thought process was, "Ten miles?  That's nothing!"  I still can't believe I thought that.  As we set out on the run, one of my running buddies wasn't there and the other wasn't feeling so well.  She ended up walking after about 5 miles, and I went on ahead.  My pace was a little faster than usual because it was cool, and I felt fantastic.  When I was done, I felt great.  I wasn't really sore, I was a little tired, but nothing too bad, and I was happy.  Running ten miles was actually easy.  What an amazing feeling!

This past week, however, has been anything but easy.  Monday night I started feeling kind of icky.  Tuesday morning, storms were setting in, so I decided to hit the gym and swim instead of running 3 miles.  By Tuesday afternoon, I felt miserable.  My nose was runny, my head hurt, and I just wanted to lie down.  I went to bed early that night and hoped I'd feel better the next day.

Wednesday, I was still a bit sniffly, but I felt OK, so I went out for an 8 mile run (again, no big deal!).  I felt great at first, but within an hour after the run I wanted nothing more than to go back to bed.  The rest of the day I felt miserable, and I even took some cold meds that night (side note: I hate taking medicine.  I don't feel like it helps me get over anything faster and coming off the meds feels worse than if I just suffered through the sickness.  I'm all about hot tea, rest, and soup.)  Thursday was by far the worst day.  My eyes were watery, I couldn't stop sneezing, and I'm pretty sure I had a few mild temperature spikes.  That said, my whole thought was that I needed to be better by Saturday, so I could run 16 miles with the group.  Fifteen miles was excruciating.  I did not have any inclination to do 16 miles on my own.

Yesterday, I felt a little better, and I improved even more after a bit of a nap under my desk during lunch.  When I woke up this morning, the first thing I thought was, "Can I do it?"  My nose was still runny, but not too bad.  I felt a little congested, but nothing terrible.  I was unbelievably tired, but I figured I'd be OK.  I put a few tissues in my fuel belt, put some fuel gels and a snack bar in a treat pouch (by the way, a dog treat pouch attached to a running fuel belt is genius!), and headed out the door.  Off to meet the group I went! 

I can't say the run was easy.  There were numerous hills, the sun was bright, and I was tired..  Having to blow my nose every mile didn't help either.  That said, there were also a nice breeze, and the views were stunning.  Oh how I wish I'd had a camera!  On top of that, I had a better fueling plan.

While the run was in no way easy, it was 1000 times easier than the 15 miler.  At the end, I even found myself cheering and encouraging my running buddy.  Of course, those cheers were kind of cheers for me too.  I did take another ice bath (frigid), and I'm relaxing a little bit, but I feel much better than I did two weeks ago. 

Can you believe it?  In another 10.2 miles, I'll be a marathoner!  I'm over half way there!!!!