Longest Long Run Yet, 17 Miles

In the past 24 hours, I’ve done two things that scare me. Can you guess the first one?

I did yoga in the park! My good friend Marsha’s yoga studio held a free sunset session in the Shakespeare park in Montgomery yesterday afternoon. I’ve been trying out some yoga at home on DVDs and really enjoy it so Marsha talked me in to stepping it up a little bit and going to a live session. Loved it!

This morning I woke up to face my longest attempt at a long run ever. My training scheduled called for 16.5 miles, but I’ve always been a stickler about whole numbers so I called it 17.

I met some running buddies at the Shakespeare park this morning at 0:dark:30 to get started.

Notice the darkness surrounding us.

I would have never dreamed that I would be out running before the sun came up.

Each of us had our own distances and paces to run today, so we didn’t stay together long but we followed the same general route. Barbara (the one in the pink) and I set out slower than the rest to pace ourselves for our distance. We followed the faster runners through an amazing route where we saw beautiful scenery, sheep in the field with shepherd dogs, fog hanging over a pond with a canoe overturned nearby … just beautiful quiet peaceful roads. We then crossed over into a business area and did a big loop around our outdoor mall.

Barbara and I stopped at McDonalds around the 7.5 mile mark to take a Gu, Salt tab and use the restroom before we got going again.

At mile 11 Barbara had a sudden sharp pain in her hamstring that would not allow her to continue. She insisted I go ahead and let her walk the rest of the way back. I reluctantly agreed after I had made several phone calls to find her some help and couldn’t get anyone on the phone. I figured I could run back as fast as I could and come get her with my car. Luckily one of our runner buddies (Duane) that we started the run with had a sixth sense to check on us and drove by shortly after Barbara’s injury occurred.

I ran 3 more miles alone. Then I got lost. Really lost.

I stopped and stood on the street corner trying to navigate my way back to the park with my phone when Drew appeared out of nowhere. These men sure saved the day today. I ran the final 3 miles back to the park with Drew … at more his pace than mine, to finish out the 17 total.

Splits were:

9:36 – 9:02 – 9:08 – 9:11 – 9:05 – 9:05 – 9:14 – 9:26 – 9:25 – 9:31 – 9:21 – 9:38 – 9:00 – 8:46 – 8:12 – 8:19 – 8:16

The whole experience other than Barb’s injury was fantastic! I’ve never felt stronger or more accomplished than I did today. I’m going to kick that marathon’s ass!

The whole group met back up at the park and then Barb, Duane and I headed off to Starbucks.

When I got back home I was so hungry I could have gnawed my arm off. I created some strange concoction that actually turned out quite well. I call it Quinoa Crusted Veggie Quiche.

I had about a cup of cooked quinoa left in the fridge which I layered in the bottom of a baking dish:

Topped it with some sautéed veggies (onions, mushrooms and zucchini)  and then poured 6 beaten eggs over the top …

Baked it in the oven at 350 for about 20-25 minutes and topped with cheese.

I was surprised at how well the quinoa stayed together as a crust. I tried to get a good pic of the crust …

Time for some more yoga stretches before heading off for work tonight.