Bragging Alert!

So... today I ran 13.1 miles on my treadmill, in my basement, while watching the Spanish movie, Volver.  I think part of my success was the movie was subtitled and I had to really concentrate on the screen in order to follow the plot. They speak rapidly in Spanish movies! The movie was great.  And I ran through it... and beyond.  For those of you not fluent in "running speak", 13.1 miles equates a half marathon. 26.2 miles is a full marathon.

I hadn't been feeling too well while running the past four or five days. Thought I needed a rest day.  My running streak was up to 37 days in a row as of yesterday.  I've run a minimum of a mile a day, and I've only run three or four days in this time period at just a mile.  But everything was firing right today.  What I learned is:
1.  Distraction helps.  I need to be listening to music, a podcast or book, or watching a movie in order to get these long runs in.  Just being alone with my thoughts is okay for the shorter runs of us to about 10k, but then I just start clock watching.
2.  While I can't run on an empty stomach, I also cannot run on a full one. Or one that has had a variety of complicated foods.  I need plain Jane nutrients.  Today I ran on an Ensure meal replacement shake and a mini Laura bar. I know.  I didn't think it would be enough either and wasn't really planning on running this distance.  I drank about a half a litre of water. At mile 11 I started to feel like I needed some nourishment and much more water.  Next time I'm going to have a second water bottle with some Gatorade in it, and some sport beans or a Gu or something similar. I'll start in on these at about 60 minutes, before I feel like I need them.  When I start to feel like I'm going to throw up, I know it's too late. :)
3.  My body loves the long distances.  In the last mile, I cranked up the pace by  mile per minute, and my legs felt like they were positively floating.  I felt like I could run forever, and then the waves a nausea started and I had to dial it back a bit. But not because my muscles felt it. I was running on empty.
4.  I positively love running.

I'm up to...173.28 mile since December 31st.  38 days.

My shoes of choice... this pair has been retired for a green pair, but same make and model.

Running at Cape May in mid January.  These excellent photos are courtesy of my fab photographer husband.  View his portfolio at carlcoxstudios.  He does great work!