14.5 mile run . . 80 degrees and sunny . . . May 11 in a climate that rarely hits 80 during high summer months. This was not a good a good combination for my longest training run for my upcoming race. I haven't felt this bad on a long run in a long time. Starting around mile 3 I just wanted to be done. All I could think about was being done. Somehow I sucked it up and completed my run, with a decent pace, but too high of a heart rate. I drank 2 1/2 times as much water as usual and was still dehydrated. It probably didn't help that I had to cram 45 miles into 6 days because of the timing of my prior long run. But I was reminded that I can find a way to do it even when miserable, even when I just want to quit.
I'm also reminded how quickly winter becomes spring and how schizophrenic the weather can be around here. Two years ago this same weekend I ran a 22 miler in snow and sleet with the temperature hovering around 25. I kept thinking about that Friday and as much as I don't want to see snow in May, I would have preferred it at that point. That said, I'm now on my final countdown to race day. My last long run is in the books, I have one hard week left and then a taper week. Two weeks from today the race will be complete and I'll start training for my next race in September. It's hard to believe that during the first weekend of summer (Memorial Day) I'll already be counting down until the last weekend of summer (Labor Day). It's a pretty short period of time up here, but well worth the wait. Run on friends, it will be winter again before you know it.
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