Long Day to run 17 miles!

So, here it is, the 17 miler recap.

It takes a lot of planning to run 17 miles, let me tell you. I was meeting Jenay to run the last 10 miles at 4:00 at my mom and dad's house. One good thing about running later was that I got to sleep in! I seriously can't remember the last time I slept in - I think I got out of bed at 8:45? (!!) Well, anyways, my parent's live on the east side of Cleveland, about 25 minutes from me (I'm a west sider! insert hand signal here). So after my lunch of an almond butter and banana sandwich I started getting ready.

After packing my bag and all essential electronic equipment including my ipod, Steve, HRM, iphone, etc, (and Market Day chicken I had got for my mom, leftover tupperware containers to return, a can of black beans she needed for dinner - talk about everything and the kitchen sink!), I headed to my Aunt Mary's house to drop of some fuel. She was going to be our halfway point this time! I got to my mom's house about 2:20, unloaded, said hello, and was out the door for the first 7 miles. I tested out my new headphones:

I have such a hard time finding headphones that stay in my ears when I run without a headband. You see, I sweat like a crazy person. Seriously. I can be standing still in 70 degree weather and my nose will have sweat on it. I blame my dad for handing down his sweat glands to me. I mean, my sister, NEVER sweats! WTH?

I read a review on these and snatched 'em up right away! I have to say, they worked fantastically! They never slipped and stayed in my ears the entire run, and considering it was raining the whole time I give them 2 thumbs up! And, seriously, it was RAINING, not drizzling. You can see here:

That is not sweat, people (ok, maybe some of it is). But you can definitely tell from my hat and pigtails that it was raining. The wind was crazy, too, very challenging, but I actually enjoyed it!

As soon as I arrived back at my parent's house, Jenay showed up (good timing!). I quickly threw my hat in the dryer while I changed shirts (I was soaked from the rain - and maybe some sweat) ate 2 Sharkies, grabbed my hat, and we were out.

It was 5 miles to my Aunt Mary's house. The rain was now a light mist, and we were running with our backs to the wind so we were feeling strong. We got there in pretty decent time (average 9:40/mile) and had a quick visit so we could stretch and see this pretty girl:

This is my cousin, Lily - isn't she cute??! Another baby! My aunt is only 4 years older than me, so it's not unusual for my aunts to have babies younger than C.

Once we were done getting our baby fix, we headed out for the 5 mile run home. Man, the last 2 miles were tough. My hamstrings were super tight and I just wanted to be home in my warm, DRY clothes. Jen and I pushed through and really kicked it in for the last mile (finished that mile in 9:27!) - not bad for being in uncharted waters! 16 miles was the furthest run I had ever had until Sunday. Let me tell you, it felt like we were sprinting that last mile when, really, we were running a pretty steady pace. What a kick in the pants.

Luckily C's dad dropped him off at my parent's while we were on our way back. And here we are with C being a goofball in the back:

Not sure how I'm going to do the day of the marathon with how much I sweat. I'm definitely going to need an "ensemble change" (channeling my inner Mariah). I sweat too much to go 4 1/2 hours without changing my shirt! Oh well, I'll figure it out, but any suggestions are welcome!

2:44 total - not too bad, right?? I'm proud of myself - AND I'm being smart with my recovery and taking care of my body. I made it a priority to ice my knees as soon as I got home that night. Which wasn't until 8:00, btw. I was gone from 1:30 until 8:00!!

I won't even tell you how long it took us to pack everything back up to go home.

Talk about a long day.