My 16-mile long run - 1/8/08

On Tuesday, I ventured out for my longest run to date--16 miles. I had a tough time sleeping the night before knowing that it'd be greeting me in the morning. Honestly, I was dreading it a bit as it's 3 miles longer than my longest run in the past and I knew that I had some time constraints because I needed to pick someone up late morning.

It took me almost 2 hours and 40 minutes to run the 16 miles, and I was completely exhausted afterwards. Completely exhausted like I wanted to fall over and die. That kind of complete exhaustion.

I ran from my house through downtown Concord, which took me past all the political sign-holders and down Main Street. As you know, New Hampshire has the first primary and the streets were packed with political supporters screaming their candidate's name. That's certainly an interesting way to spice up a run.

During my last 5 miles, all I could think about was the peanut butter toast, almonds and Gatorade that I'd be having when I got home. If that's not an indication that I'm a runner, I don't know what is.

My legs were definitely aching afterwards, and I took a couple ibuprofen that morning, more later that evening and then a few the morning after. I took the next day off because my right calf was throbbing. I ran 5 miles today without any problems, though.

Before I feel comfortable with my marathon training, I'll need to do an 18-miler and a 20-miler. I'll need to do those over the next two weeks to gain the required confidence for the full 26.2.