20 Miles

Will add more to this post later but I have to go and sit down with my legs on a bag of ice. This is the satellite image from my GPS of my run today with the OKC Landrunners along the marathon course in Oklahoma City just to prove I did it. This is my last really long run before the big day and was tough but doable. I just hope my legs can carry me that last 6 miles on the day!!

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UPDATE

OK, so here is the rest as promised. I woke up at 5am on Sunday in my usual style of having breakfast of porridge, a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of coffee a couple of hours before my run to make sure I have enough fuel in me. Then I got back into bed for an hour before getting up again to pull myself together.

So far I've been running my long runs around Norman and have gotten to know the back streets pretty well. Running is a great excuse to be nosey and look at houses around town but this week I had an opportunity to be nosey around the neighbourhoods of Oklahoma City. The OKC Landrunners have a long training run once a week and although I've been meaning to go almost every weekend throughout my training I never quite managed to rouse myself to get me there. This week the run was along the course so I roused myself to find a lift with someone in my marathon class who was also running and off we went.

When we got there there were maybe 200 other runners all preparing to run either 20 or 10 miles depending on whether they were training for a half or full marathon. We gathered around as they introduced various people of importance at the club and said a prayer (to which I sort of bowed my head a bit and made a vague "amen" grunt), took our photo at the "start line" and off we went.

My friend zipped off ahead, being much faster than I am, so I was left to my own plodding devices. The first couple of miles were tough (they usually are) and with the excitement of the crowd I took off far faster than I should have but it turned out alright in the end. Actually the whole run went pretty much without a hitch, I found some people running my pace and followed them around the course to avoid getting lost. The miles and time seemed to fly by, nothing really hurt, I never wanted to give up and my gummi bear and honey fuelling combination, along with the wonderful water stops provided by a local running shop, made sure I was well hydrated and fuelled. I think this means that I might actually be ready to do this thing!

The run was along the actual marathon course (although it cut off the extra 6 miles from the turnaround, which if you look at the satellite image goes kind of around that lake at the top) so it gave me a good idea of the course. It also gave me the opportunity to nosey around the posh parts of town with the giant houses.

The course is actually really nice, a little bit of winding around some fancy neighbourhoods with good houses to gawp at and enough hills to make it interesting but not enough to make it too hard. I imagine the lake will be very pleasant too although I'm hoping that there wont be too much wind whipping up around it. The water stations provided by the running club were also very nice as were the pretzels. I must learn to drive so that I can join the club and enjoy more of their events.

I came to the end, a block away from where we started to be greeted by a cheer from the running club people and a vast selection of snacks and sports drinks. What an awesome bunch of people although Amanda did have once fun little exchange with one of the runners...

Amanda arrived to pick me up, as arranged four hours after the start time, in the car park where our run ended, having spotted the crowd of runners and was trying to work out where I'd be when a runner man asked her if she was looking for someone and she said that yes "She should be here any minute now." When runnerman asked her if it was "Your husband?" and Amanda in some flight of fancy/momentary madness said "No my wife!" he apparently looked shocked and mumbled something about us all having our own maps and left her to her own devices. Amanda never actually calls me her wife but it elicited such an amusing response that perhaps she should more often!

That's it really. I have my 20 miler under my belt and didn't want to die and unless I have an attack of low-confidence this week and feel the urge to run another on Sunday that will be it until race day. There's not much else I can do now but fret.

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UPDATE #2

I just pilfered this photo of me from the OKC Landrunners website. Look at me looking all runnery. And yes, I am wearing the same outfit I wore for the half - I think I need more running clothes - the smell is becoming ingrained!