Hangover + Long Run = STUPID!

Chris and I are happy to report that we finished our 16 and 18 mile long runs on Sunday - despite a late Saturday night celebrating a friend's wedding - without any major problems.

We knew going into the weekend that our long run was going to be tough because we were going to have to deal with some headaches leftover from the wedding reception on Saturday night.

The wedding was a great time and we'll never forget the friends we made at Table 7 (aka "T7".) I know it wasn't our idea to order up not one but two rounds of vodka shots (damn you open bar!) but how could we pass them up? I'm also not sure what exactly was in the flask that one of our table mates passed around a few times, but it sure made your tummy feel warm.

The smartest thing we did was NOT extend the night beyond the wedding reception in the form of an after party at the hotel. Chris and I shut it down around midnight and logged a solid 8-9 hours of sleep (and drank lots of water).

Still, Sunday morning came quickly and we were soon fueling ourselves up with a not-so-desirable free Holiday Inn Express Breakfast (can you say "ick"?) and topped it off with some additional fuel from Dunkin Donuts. I should also mention that the grand finale meal we ate before running was leftover "Dick's Meatloaf" that my father (aka Dick) made the night before. 

Clearly, we were not setting ourselves up for a personal-best pace during the long run.

I dropped Chris about 1.5 miles from where I would meet up with her so we could run the next 16 miles together (she's running the Higdon Novice 2 and I'm running the Higdon Novice 1 plan.) I could tell that she was not "feeling it" by the time we met up. We ran the next 5 miles slow agreeing that - given the festivities the night before - the goal for this long run was to FINISH and not care about the average pace.

I'm happy to say that by the time we hit our first refill station (mile 5/7) we had both shaken off the headaches, etc. and were feeling much better. We pushed forward another 5 miles and then hit a 1 mile long hill that seemed like it would never end. I'm proud to say we both got over that hill without having to walk and/or toss our cookies! We were smart enough to place our second refill pack just past the top of the hill and it was a much needed hit of Gu, Gatorade and Water (GuGaWa.)

Now we just needed to finish the last 5 miles. The last leg started off great but we had one last hill to climb before we coasted the last 2 miles to the faux finish line. This is when I can tell you how glad I am that Chris and I have been able to do the majority of our long runs together. We were about halfway through this last hill (on Stanley Drive in case you're interested) and my legs just wanted to STOP. Chris was behind me and heard my moaning/groaning. She kept me going by yelling out some words of encouragement (thanks Chris!) Had I been alone, I am 99.999% sure I would have stopped and walked the rest of the hill and hated myself for walking it after I finished the run. I felt great once I made it to the top of the hill and was able to pick up my pace all the way to the end.

The end of my long run was about 1/2 mile before Chris's, so I returned the favor by running behind her yelling words of encouragement so she would finish strong - which she did.

Thank God it's over. We have three long(er) runs left and I'm pretty sure none of them will be as tough as the one we just finished. I know this because we don't have any more weddings to attend!