Saturday's Run: A Reminder that the Earth is Still Spinning...Fast

My hope Friday night as I went to bed was that the wind would calm overnight. I think the opposite was the case. I knew I was in trouble Saturday morning when I awoke and I could hear the wind chimes dinging and our neighbor's flag pole clanging in their front yard.

I arrived at Veteran's Park to learn that no one else in my pace group was running, so I started down the trail on the east side of the river alone. Twenty-two miles later, I was running on the same side of the river (different direction) alone. It was a tough run.

There was construction all over the place. I hit my first orange fence around 9 miles in, just past Turkey Mountain and the water treatment plant. I could see that there actually was nothing going on, at least not within the visible distance, so I ran around the fence and continued on the path. A couple more open orange fences later and I finally came upon a work crew. One guy was sitting in a city truck on the running path. One guy was using a power digger, and three guys were standing off to the side. The entire operation affected less than 50 yards of the area, yet roughly a mile of the path was closed. I was able to run through the grass and easily avoid the workers. One more orange fence and I was through the construction area.

As I approached 11 miles, I saw signs up around the pedestrian bridge warning that the "bike path" was closed. I reasoned that I was on the running path, not the bike path, and I went ahead and crossed the bridge. The wind was literally blowing me from side to side, but the bridge was still very much passable.

I soon found myself at the end of the charted path, so I had to start creating my own path in order to hit 22 miles. I circled north and west on Southwest Blvd, back to the west side of the river and followed the path all of the way down the the orange construction fence that I had exited roughly an hour previous. I decided not to cross it again, even though it meant that I would have to make up 2 miles somewhere else. I turned around and headed back north.

I hit the pedestrian bridge again about 18 miles in. I began feeling very fatigued--much more fatigued than I had felt at the same point in my 20-mile run two weeks previous. I am hoping/assuming that the early fatigue was due to running, at this point, 8 miles directly into the northern wind.

As I crossed the bridge, again, being blown all over the place, I debated on whether to turn left or right at the end of the bridge. Right would mean adding an extra mile south (and my 9th mile directly into the wind) and back in order to hit 22 miles. Left meant heading home early and hitting only about 20 miles for the day. I decided to go right, and as I did, my mind flashed to Anchorman, when Ron Burgundy jumped into the bears' den at the San Diego Zoo: I immediately regretted this decision. My feet were hurting (well past due for new shoes), and I had absolutely no energy left. I made it down to 41st and turned around. At this point, I made a quick call to my wife for some company and encouragement on this last stretch. After we hung up, I ran and walked the rest of the way to my car.

Extrapolated, I would not have made a full 26.2 in under 4 hours, a fact that concerned me very much in light of the work I have invested in this series of training. My hope is that it will not be as windy in OKC, but the truth is, it likely will be, and perhaps even worse.

I did happen to see one of the most awesome sights I've ever seen on a long run: a huge bald eagle flew almost directly overhead when I was running past the base of Turkey Mountain. It had a pretty large fish in its talons. As far as I can remember, it's the first time I've seen a bald eagle like that, so close, in its natural habitat. I'm no nature guy, but it really was an amazing sight.

This coming Saturday, for the 24-mile run, my plan is to start out between 8:20-8:30 and simply sustain that pace as long as I possibly can. No 8-minute miles. Just a constant, steady, sustainable pace.

Still no stats--hopefully our computer will be fixed on Wednesday.