1,000 Miles in 2011: Check!

Today's post is brought to you by the number 18!!  I did it!  I walked 18 miles with Sara yesterday while she did a run/walk combo in her training for the Goofy challenge!  I have never done more than 13.1 before and I thought I'd join Sara in her training for two reasons:  she is an awesome person & has been struggling a little with training & I wanted to see if I was fit enough to do 18.  Go over to her blog and offer her encouragement as she trains for Goofy - 13.1 on Saturday & 26.2 on Sunday in January.

Thankfully they are ready to retire!

We headed out on the trail and at about mile 1.7, we had to make a decision of trekking through mud or finding a way around it.  Sara was smart and found a way around it.  Me?  I walked right through it thinking the ground was solid.  It wasn't.  My shoes were covered in a muddy mess.  The weird part is they never felt wet - just muddy.  We went on, assuming it would dry and cake off.  It did!  Every now and again, I'd jump up & down to get some of the dirt off!   When I got home and took my sneakers off, my toes were muddy but not wet.  I still find it weird but I am not going to question it!  By the way, we discovered on the way back that if we had just gone up the trail, I could have avoided muddy shoes.  Don't tell anyone but at least we didn't have to go through it a second time!

Perfectly normal to see during a workout, right?

We stopped quite a few times - mostly for me - and I worried I was hindering Sara's workout.  Thankfully the trail we were on has a lot of business we could stop at and refill our water bottles.  I didn't realize we were going to end up on Route 3 in Westerville during their Christmas parade.  We got to see Santa - who waved at us but I ignored him and men dressed as the nutcracker riding horses.  We were the only people wearing workout clothes in the parade and as Sara said on her blog, she was surprised at how close we were to our cars when we turned around.  We could have just gone back and cut out 9 miles but we didn't - we turned around & went back the way we came!

How we are still smiling is beyond me!

There were parts of this trail I have been on before - either during a race or during an MIT workout.  I never realized how long it is!  We took a break at mile 13.96......I remember because that is when I was .04 miles from 1,000 and hit the restrooms in the Westerville Rec Center - again for me!  We had 4 more to go & I knew Sara was having a hard time of it so we talked about everything else but what we were doing.  I've been known to run my mouth and this was no different.  I think this might have been right around the time we decided a mutual friend of ours, Judi, reminds us of Betty Boop.  In fact, I texted her as much from the Rec Center.  I have to admit - I was trying everything I could to keep Sara distracted and it was getting harder as we got closer to Cooper Park where we parked the cars.  I swear as we got closer, it felt further away.  I definitely was done mentally somewhere between 17 & 18.  That was also where it started to rain too & get colder.  Thankfully we found the cars and snapped one last picture before we headed home.

I was excited to achieve two things during this workout:  a personal distance record of 18 miles and 1,000 miles tracked with my Garmin in 2011.  I was telling Sara that the number does not include any treadmill workouts - just mileage tracked with my Garmin in 2011 from walking or biking.  I may have more than 1,000 miles on my feet this year, but I decided the only one that would count had to be counted by the Garmin.  I am so glad I got to achieve this goal with such a good friend like Sara!  I enjoyed getting the time to know her better too - definitely something we haven't had a lot of time to do!

I feel ready to try further distances but I definitely have to learn the proper nutrition.  I had a decent breakfast and 5 GUs during the workout but I definitely need to learn more.  I ate a big dinner when I got home - way more than I normally do but went to bed still hungry.  Today, I ate my normal serving of my protein shake - blueberries, milk, protein powder & honey (302 calories) for breakfast & I was hungry again by 9.  Thankfully I work from home & was able to rectify it.  I need to learn proper nutrition & diet for a marathon before I just jump into it feet first.  I also need to go get new shoes..........those Glycerin 9s have way too many miles on them!

Where did you learn the proper nutrition for your marathon training?  How was your first long run or walk?