Getting my long-run confidence back

The last two runs I've done that have been longer than 10 miles have not ended well.

I started cramping at mile 10 of the 25K El Scorcho race on July 20. And I was so sick at the start of an 11-miler on July 26 that I had to walk for much of the last mile.

So even though I'm doing sub 8s for tempo runs and sub 7s for intervals, my long run confidence has been shot.

Boy, did I need today's run to get that confidence back.

My marathon training schedule called for 14 miles, with 5 hill repeats somewhere along mile 9.

I brought along two Hammer chocolate gel shots, which I took at Mile 5 and Mile 10. I drank two cups of water at each water stand, which were placed two miles apart.

It was 80 degrees with humidity about 78 percent. And there were hills everywhere.

And I did just fine. My goal was to try to run most of my miles between 8:30 and 8:45.

But after the first two warmup miles, my adrenaline got the best of me. Each mile between 3 and 8 were between 7:50 and 8:10. The 7:50 came after I took my first Hammer shot. Whooo-hooo, that gave me this crazy burst of energy.

The good feeling didn't last long as Mile 9 brought the hill repeats. 100 feet in about a 10th of a mile. Our group leader said we shouldn't do them if we weren't feeling good. I tried one and it just about took everything out of me. The inside of my right thigh also started cramping real bad, but I stopped, stretched real good and continued, though I was done with the dang hill repeats. Heck, most of the run was one big hill repeat.

The rest of my run was a struggle, but I was able to run a sub 9 for three of the last five miles. I finished the 14.18 mile course in 2:02:45, about an 8:39 pace. (Total time doesn't include me stopping for about 30 seconds at each of the water stations) My last mile, in which both hamstrings and calves, started twitching, was in about 10 minutes, so you can tell I was hurting and would not have been able to do another 3 miles in 8:39 pace.

Still, it was just the kind of run I needed to remind me that I can do this marathon thing. I've got to run slower on these long runs, especially in the beginning and I need to keep up with the fluids as I did today. Also, because this was my longest run since El Scorcho 20 days ago, my body wasn't quite used to the long distance.

But good thing White Rock Marathon is in December, not September.

There is plenty of time to get better.