Happy 21st!

No, unfortunately it is not my birthday & nor am I 21..... my Blog title is of course referring to my final long training run of 21 miles.......

The run happened yesterday, though as you know, Phil & I prefer to schedule our long training runs for Saturdays, for the obvious reason that we then get Sunday off. However, this did not go to plan as Phil got sick. I'll explain.......

Monday we were scheduled for a training run (we are still doing our midweek runs but I bore myself writing about them now as they do not really differ from each other too much) but Phil had gotten an abscess on one of his back teeth & was feeling very worse for wear, even more so the day later, so we chose the sensible option of rest.
Come Wednesday I was eager to get back out after a lazy 3 days (including our day off on Sunday), I missed running & felt like a couch potato. Phil was feeling much better as his anti- biotics had kicked in so we were back into training for the week, most of which was in the rain (a bit silly I know seeing as Phil wasn't well as it was).

Come Saturday we should have been well prepared for our big run but unfortunately & very unlike us, we were most certainly not. We had forgotten to buy gel packs, glucose sweets & still hadn't invested in a much needed gel belt. As well as that, Phil's good running shorts were still wet from running in the rain so he was left with heavy football shorts to wear.
We knew the night before how unprepared we were but decided to head out anyway. So Phil awoke at 5.30am Saturday morning to make breakfast for the both of us & then the plan was to sleep for a hour or so before getting up to start our run.
A good few hours later we woke up.

Having overslept we were quite disappointed with ourselves. Had we of gotten out on time we'd have nearly been finished rather than just starting. Such a daunting feeling to have before a 21 mile run so you can forgive us for only barely having the motivation to get out of bed & onto the road. Plus Phil was back to feeling unwell again so we really did have to push ourselves out of the door.
We reached the park (the start of the last 21 miles of the marathon course) & braving the wind & the chilly air, we started our run. About 2 miles into our run we knew we should have stayed in bed. Phil was sick, obviously still not recovered from his abscess & training runs in the rain, and I had a sore right foot that pained me to run on. We walked for a short while to see if we could compose ourselves but it was impossible. We quit right there & then & prayed that a day of rest would have us recovered enough to attempt our final long run the next day.

Good decision.

Come Sunday we decided on a sensible time to run to enable us to catch up on as much sleep as possible. We so desperately wanted to succeed, we wanted to complete the 21 miles we had planned to run & have our tapering to look forward to afterwards.
Thankfully we felt great & headed off to the park for the second time that weekend. We were better prepared with gel, sweets & a gel belt so we both felt good.

Starting off I was still feeling the pain in my right foot that I had done the previous day. I was a little worried about it as it was causing my foot to smack down onto the road. My leg felt like stone. Phil suggested I loosen my laces which I did & it actually did help a little but I was still in a fair bit of pain. Phil & I got talking which took my mind off it a little & after about 4 or 5 miles, it finally warmed up & the pain went. Thank God for that.

That was it from then on out. We felt great, Phil was no longer feeling sick & my foot was no longer sore & we were both out of the boring park & into some new territory.

Come 6 miles into our run I felt brilliant. We were running at our usual pace (10 minute mile) & it felt good running the course. I could imagine the streets lined with spectators, cheering us on & making us feel like proper athletes for that one day.
I pretty much felt this way up until mile 15 when I started to suffer from a slight error I made back on mile 13. We had stopped at the shop at mile 13 to refuel. We got drinks & a chocolate bar each for extra energy but I made the grave mistake of eating a Snickers bar, and scoffing it down at that. At mile 15 I felt sick! The nuts kept repeating on me & I couldn't even rehydrate at this point for fear that a drink would just make me throw up. We eventually stopped to walk for a couple of minutes as I had gotten a stitch on top of wanting to throw up.
This seemed to work & I no longer felt sick, but then I started to get a little panicked & I was worried I would have a panic attack, as they seem to have become a trend for me at some point between mile 13 - 16. "I am not letting a panic attack get the better of me today" I thought & I started to take deep breaths in through my nose & out through my mouth until it had passed. From there on out there was no stopping me. I knew how far we had come & I knew there was not long to go. I was going to complete 21 miles.

During the course I did wonder if Phil was playing tricks on me as he usually does & had lied about what mile we started at what mile were were on every time I had asked him, but not wanting to get my hopes up that our actual finishing line may be closer than he had told me, I put this thought out of my mind. Especially when he gave me an update at one stage telling me were 15 minutes behind target. I could well believe that & I did.
Nearing the end, coming up to mile 19 I knew there wasn't far to go, just 2 more miles, and so I pushed myself as hard as I could. The short gap there had been between Phil & I became non existent. I felt like I was carrying a fridge as I was running, but never the less, I felt surprisingly good.
Soon enough we reached Westland Row, there was only a mile left. Though seeing as this final mile was running through the crowds in town I wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of running it but what has to be done has to be done. Then out of nowhere Phil stopped in his tracks & pulled my arm to stop me too. It didn't register what was happening until he put his arms around me to give me a great big hug & told me we had just ran 21 miles. He had tricked me after all. I was delighted & extremely proud of both myself & him. We had just run 21 miles!
What's more is at the time that I was running my strongest of the whole second half of the run, I was actually at the 20 mile mark! Not only had I managed to not hit the wall, but I had managed to run through it with strength leaving a big Sarah sized hole through the middle.
We had done it & only a little behind target at 3 hours 34 minutes (not 15 minutes behind target as Phil has fibbed to me about).

Now, with sore legs & heavy eyes, I still feel as proud as I did yesterday. My longest run to date was by far one of my favourite runs & to my surprise, much easier than last weeks 18 miler.
With only 5 miles to add I know without a doubt I will complete the marathon & I look forward to it. I look forward to feeling special when my family & friends are cheering me on, I look forward to crossing the finish line & feeling all my hard work has paid off, but for now, I will look forward to the taper.