22 miles!!!

This week was pretty busy.  On Tuesday we met with our favorite wedding photographers (more about that in my next post).  Now on to my runs for last week and today.  Wednesday night I ran 3 miles with Chris, but my stomach felt like a soda bottle that had rolled down a hill.  I had to take several walk breaks.  Total time was 31:02.  My second run was on an easy 3 miles with my co-worker Bala on Friday.  The total time was 31:02.  The last run of the week was on Saturday, with Chris, and was 3 miles in 28:45.

Today Caitlin, Ryan, and I ran our last long run before our marathon.  Caitlin and Ryan ran 20 miles, and I ran 22, simply because for me the marathon is all a mind game.  And telling myself I have already run 22 and only need to run 4.2 more sounds better in my head then adding on a 10K.  I woke up at 5 am, met them at 5:30, then we drove out to Clermont.  It was 39 degrees Fahrenheit for the first 5 miles of our run, then it slowly warmed up.  Since we were wearing multiple layers and were not sure if we wanted to shed layers, we did 2.5 miles out then back to the car then repeated the other direction.  For the last 10 miles we ran 5 out and back.  Then I ran an extra 2 miles.  Unfortunately my run literally was a pain-in-the-butt.  We had to stop several times so that I could stretch.  The entire left side of my butt/hip/and IT band seemed to tighten up quite a bit.  Stretching consistently really seemed to help.  I had a GU at mile 5 and at mile 10.  Then at mile 15, Caitlin and I split a really delicious Clif Bar.  We ran with a water/gatorade mix in the hydration pack.

Here are the splits:
(Note, times below include only running, not the times that we stopped to stretch or use the restroom).

Mile 1:  12:03
Mile 2:  11:58
Mile 3:  11:49
Mile 4:  12:11
Mile 5:  11:53
Mile 6:  12:16
Mile 7:  11:55
Mile 8:  11:55
Mile 9:  11:35
Mile 10:  11:38
Mile 11:  11:56
Mile 12:  12:27
Mile 13:  11:50
Mile 14:  13:50
Mile 15:  12:20
Mile 16:  12:18
Mile 17:  12:14
Mile 18:  12:55
(here I handed off the hydration pack and ran the rest by myself.  I felt bad because I mentally really needed to run 22 miles, but Caitlin and Ryan only wanted to do 20.  I knew Caitlin wanted to get home to work on her candidacy, so I really pushed to finish my last 4 miles as quickly as possible.)
Mile 19:  9:05
Mile 20:  9:02
Mile 21:  8:46
Mile 22:  8:37
Total time running:  4 hours and 14 minutes. 

I completely surprised myself with the last 4 miles!  I am feeling really confident for the marathon!  I am so excited for the marathon and the expo. 

In regards to my 2011 challenge, both last week and this week I have done short arm work-outs and some crunches.  Like I said, I intend to increase the intensity after the marathon.  I do not want any more injuries.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  Did you do anything that pushed your limits?

Addition:  I want to thank you all so much for your support!  You really helped me get pumped for my run!  Thank you so much!