What could be better than 30 miles in the beautiful forest of Huntsville State Park? Along the way I saw 5 deer, 2 armadillos, numerous butterflies, and "smelled" a nearby skunk (who would have been given right-of-way if I actually saw him). The weather was nice at the start and Bruce ran the first 8 miles with me (Primarily in the dark-which is great considering I am a big chicken when it comes to running in the woods in the dark.) We started around 5:30 am and it was cooler, but still a bit humid.
The humidity lightened once the sun came up- but the cooler temps stayed around. We ran the first loop (8 miles) together, then I headed out for a 10.5 mile loop alone (without music- stupid ipod stopped working). I spent a lot of time on that loop focusing on my new Garmin GPS watch. I was driving myself crazy focusing on time/distance/speed- as I was a little bored. As the morning wore on, there were more people on the trails- runners, bikers, and hikers. I would amuse myself by making small talk with people who passed me or people that I passed on the trails.
I determined that there was no way that I was ever going to be able to run 100 miles, because I was sooooo tired and my right hip was killing me- this was about 14 miles into the run. I was thinking "I am not even at 20 miles- which is only 1/5 of 100 miles! I may actually die attempting this." I noticed that I was "favoring" the sore hip and adding more weight on my left side. I made a conscious effort to run with an even gait and stop favoring the right side. It hurt more initially to do this, but then the pain seemed to subside. Amazingly- my hip stopped hurting at some point (or went numb) and I was able to finish that lap. It was close to 10 o'clock when I headed out for the last 10.5 mile loop.
The temps were still pretty nice and I was no longer in pain. I was also MUCH happier since Bruce loaned me his ipod. HEAVENLY. Instead of focusing on how far I had already run- I just focused on how much was left. I even found myself with an unexplainable burst of energy about 3 miles from the finish. I may have been happy that I was near the end. As I completed the run, I decided that I MIGHT be able to do 100 miles, but it was going to be a challenge.
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