The Rowe Family Blog

On Sunday 9/2 John and I ran our final 20 mile run in our training for the 2007 Rochester Marathon.  This run didn’t go as well as the previous week but it was still a success.

I tried to do everything the same as the previous week but it didn’t all go according to plan.  I realized that I was out of my favorite flavor of gel, Razz from Cliff Shot.  I went to EMS, where I usually buy gels from, but they were out of Razz.  I tried two other stores before giving up and resorting to buying over the Internet.  I ordered 24 gels for a very good price from REI I haven’t gotten the gels yet so I can’t comment on the service from REI but I don’t have any reason to be unhappy yet.

Like last week we tried to start at 7 AM.  We started at about 7:05 and ran the same 8 mile loop as last week.  It was cold!  For the first loop I ran with a shirt on because it wasn’t quite 50 degrees out.  After the 8 mile loop we ran a loop that was just shy of 4 miles and then repeated the 8 mile loop in a slightly different manner.  We stuck together until mile 16 and then split up to go at our own paces.  John’s stomach was not cooperating so he took an alternate route that would place him closer to home more quickly.  I continued on the planned route.

After 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 56 seconds I finished.  I picked up the pace for the last four miles but my legs were tired from about mile 8 onward.  Still I wasn’t terribly fatigued and I certainly didn’t hit the wall.  I feel much more confident about running 20+ miles at a time than ever before.  My average pace was 10:13 because I didn’t quite reach the 20 mile mark.  Overall I was very happy with the run mostly because my comfort level was very high through the entire run (with the exception of sore/tired legs) .  I learned tha, although it tastes good, the vanilla 4x sodium gels from PowerBar are not for me.  My stomach was a little unsettled (but not too badly).

Tonight, 9/4, I ran the 2.2 mile loop.  It was the first run with my new sneakers!  I ordered a pair of Mizuno Wave Elixir 2s from Fleet Feet.  I’m sure I could find them cheaper online but I’d rather give my money to Fleet Feet since they do so much for the running community in Rochester.

My sneakers are very much like my old ones.  My previous sneakers were Wave Elixir’s and the new version is almost identical to the original (thankfully!).  They felt good when I laced them up and at first things felt great.  Then, in my left shin, I felt a lot of muscle tiredness (lactic acid type feeling).  Later in the run the acid feeling built up in my left calf.  I’m going to use these for my 5 mile tempo run this Thursday and for the 8 mile run on Sunday.  If I continue to feel like this while running in them I will wear my older sneakers during the marathon.  My older sneakers have about 500 miles on them!