From discouraged to enthused...

Yesterday I ran a tough run. I didn't prepare well. I didn't carb up prior to the run and I paid for it. Friday night I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, had inadequate sleep and then I didn't eat much in the morning. I didn't start running until after noon and it was hot. And I planned a tough run. I wanted to do hill training so I spent the first 13 miles running hills. The first 4 miles had 3 very steep inclines that totaled about 3 quarters of a mile. Then the fun started... The next 3 miles were all on a steady incline except for about a half mile's worth of down hill the following 4 miles after that were continuing rolling steep inclines and declines and then I finished the initial 13 miles with a 2.5 mile decline. After that the plan was to run another 10 miles. Well I made it to mile 21 and then I had to walk. I started getting dizzy and I felt bad. I hit mile 20 at 3 hours and 40 minutes which is an 11 minute pace which I feel was respectable considering the 13 miles of hills. But I just ran out of gas after that. As I was walking home on those last 2 miles I thought, "How am I ever going to do 50?" But I really need to go a bit easier on myself. This is part of training. I really pushed it yesterday. Then I ran 17 today with Steve in 3 hours flat (10:35 minute per mile pace) and was pumped because we ran the last hour at a fast pace (for me that is). The final 6 miles were all under 10 minutes. Mile 16 (mile 39 on the weekend) was at 8:50. I felt pretty badass after that. After that mile Steve said to me, "well, you can do it." And that's that. I can do it. My legs are sore now. Off to bed.