16.8 miles in Woodside

Today I have really jumped to a new level in the training. I toppled my previous longest run by 2.8 miles. The day began at about 2:30AM when I woke up and had some water, I went back to sleep and woke up around 6:30, had some more water and then breakfast. We were slated for a 16 mile run today in Woodside on an overcast morning beginning at 8:45AM. We arrived at the park and ride station at 7:45 and waited for another person to join us, so that we wouldn’t be turned away by the Team in Training mentors/coaches/captains. There were supposedly around 200 people arriving this morning from TNT to run around Woodside, so they wanted to make sure people were really carpooling and not just arriving solo.

In any case, we arrived a little after 8 and just hung out with other people, watched other groups begin and waited impatiently for our turn at 8:45. About 15 minutes before we started I had a Powerbar gel packet, which actually tasted pretty good, though the texture is still a little strange and does not feel like food. We were surprised when a total of 6 people were running in our group, 5 participants and 1 honoree, Keith. I ran with Keith at the Portola Valley run, and we had some good conversations and had run at about the same pace. We got going with instructions and a “Go Team!” cheer, heading off to the left and then traveling across a vast assortment of surfaces.

It was an interesting run, next to some busy streets, on trails, up and around small peaks, through residential areas, and near a freeway for a long time. For the entire first 5 or so miles the 6 of us were all in a group, not more than 20 feet apart, and then we had the only mistake of the day. As a whole we missed the clearly placed chalk marks telling us to travel in one direction and ended up running an additional .8 miles. This wasn’t a big deal considering we were running 16 miles during the course of the morning and early afternoon. We were constantly passing other TNT runners, and a lot of bikers were giving off the chant which boosted our spirits and made us realize what we were really running for. Another major factor was that Keith one of the honorees (he has been battling cancer for the last year) was running with us. He’s a pretty cool guy and we continued our conversation from a month ago with some small jogging of the memory, but for the most part it was a continuation.

We passed by a few aid stations and I stopped at each of them, making sure to get used to getting enough water and gel packets, candy, and pretzels. It’s nice to acknowledge the people at the aid stations, joke around with them for a few moments, and then thank them for their help. After about 12 miles my knees were feeling a little tired, but not enough to force any kind of slowing down or ill effects, so I just pushed on, keeping just under a 10 minute mile pace. Around this same time, the sun was really beating down on us, heating up the pavement and forcing increased amounts of thirst. When we finally made it to the turn around point, my body was pretty exhausted and wasn’t sure what it would feel like to turn around, but it was amazing. At the point where we turned around, Keith and I both breathed a sign of relief and let the others that were only a little bit behind us that the turnaround was near, the happiness was evident on everybody’s face.

I started recognizing the scenery, which was fairly similar to that of Portola Valley, just not as much open space, and more development, fences, and well a freeway. It was a very nice run, just dragged on. At the last aid station we were left without much water left in the jug. I took a small amount in my water bottle and added a bunch of mixture, it tasted quite strange, but it might have been exactly what I needed. At that point there were about 2 miles to go and I was feeling great, my legs weren’t really hurting, just fatigued and Keith was pushing hard to keep the pace. At this point we were beginning to see all of the people who were running between 10-14 miles and it was great to hear all of the support.

With about half a mile left, Keith pushed it, making both of us increase our pace to about 9 minute mile or less, and as we passed people, they probably wouldn’t have believed we were running our 17th mile of the day. We kept it up until we turned right and everybody that had already finished were clapping, waving noise makers, waving plastic clappers, and yelling, it was AWESOME!!! Having that much support was an incredible feeling, especially after training with many of them for the last few months. I rushed over to the water station and filled up after running the last 2 miles without much hydration my body was ready for some sustenance. I hung around and stretched for about 30 minutes and waited for the rest of the people finish. I tried to clap for everybody, but after the 16.8 miles my mind was not completely there and was absorbed in my stretching, and trying to limit my recovery time.

We finished up and headed home. The entire run lasted for 2 hours and 49 minutes, covering 16.8 miles and running all around Woodside.

Hopefully tomorrow my legs will be kind to me and only be a little sore, but this is doubtful and only wishful thinking.

Have a great rest of the weekend,

Ryan