Last Long Run Before PGH Half Marathon

Technically, I was supposed to run this long run on Saturday. However, I will be traveling to Tennessee this weekend to see family and didn't want to take away from moments with them. Being away from family can be really hard some days, especially when I get Snapchats and pictures sent of my little niece who will be a year old this Sunday. So instead of ditching my family for ~2 hours on Saturday, I wanted to get it in today. I'll still run this weekend, but not nearly as long.

This was the Snap I got Easter morning from my sister. She's such a happy soul.

I didn't plan my run well. Just as I was about to leave for my run, friends had stopped over. We got to talking, and I ended up starting my run an hour later than I wanted. I did the math, and knew I couldn't do a LSR (long slow run) without being late for my night shift. I still wanted the mileage, so I ran with a moderate pace.

I haven't ran over 10 miles since the Spring Thaw 15 Miler back at the end of February. This was a mentally challenging run. The first 6 miles felt great; I moved right along, letting my body take me and enjoy the sun going down over the Ohio River. But when I turned around to trek 6 miles back, a huge wave of "damnitttttt" hit me. I wanted to just check out and Uber home, shower, and nap before going into work. I looked at the horizon and thought: "Well Crystal, how bad do you want to be ready for the PGH Half? Not ready? Then call Uber. Actually not die during the race? Then do your miles." I have to say, running is far less physically exhausting at this point in life than it is mentally challenging.

Then my knees really felt the burn about an hour into running (7-8 miles in). They usually do this. I've tried different insoles and changing my heel-strike (which I hit midfoot). The only thing that really keeps the pain away is to take Ibuprofen beforehand; obviously I forgot to do that today. I also could attribute the pain to the fact that this is a lot of mileage after a bunch of days off and not running nearly as much in a great while. My hope is to add strengthening exercises to my quads so I can pull the pressure off of my skeletal system and onto my muscles.

Though the temperature wasn't terrible, but it was incredibly humid and  I did not hydrate well throughout the day. Consequently, I went through water pretty quick. Thankfully, I ran out while I was in downtown, and decided to stop at McDonald's and ask for water. I ended up drinking the whole bottle before making it my 5 miles back home. You would think that a little dehydration wouldn't affect your pace THAT much... well mile 8 was almost a whole minute shorter than mile 7. Consider that as a lesson learned.

As I'm processing all of this, I'm starting to realize that I really need to prepare my long run days just like I would prepare for a race day. 12 miles is 12 miles, all should be treated the same.

I finished the 12.02 miles in 1:41:04, which was a 8:26min/mi pace. Overall, I feel this run helped me to mentally prepare for Pittsburgh, as well as remind me of the simple ways in which I need to prepare my body before a run.

Let me know in the comments how you prepare for your long runs!