Twilight 10.84 Mile Run

Yesterday at twilight, with the temperature at an unseasonably unpleasant 79 degrees, I set out on what I determined would be a test run.  Testing what, you might ask.  Testing my ability to withstand a 13.1 mile run, I might answer.  For I intend to register and run in the Ocala Half-Marathon, scheduled to take place this coming Sunday morning, January 20.  But first I had to see how I did on a longer-than-usual run. I had been amassing some impressive mileage recently but they were split runs.  I had to see what I could do in a single run...

As it turned out, I had nothing to be worried about.  I ran 10.84 miles and could have gone further had the nighttime poor visibility not made more running nearly impossible.  I had been concerned about hitting an "energy wall" when I would be too exhausted to finish.  That had happened to me a couple of years ago at about the 20-mile mark when I was training for the marathon.  But no energy wall this time; I just felt sore, which was to be expected since I hadn't covered this distance in nearly a year.  So now I'm waiting to see how well I recover from yesterday's run.  Today I ran 2.38 miles around my neighborhood and will most likely run a couple more on the treadmill later tonight.  Then, if I still feel good, I'll sign up for the race.  Should be fun.

I should have a easier go at it on race day morning, the way I see it.  For one, it should be cooler.  For another, I will have done my "carb-loading" the day before and should have more energy reserved for this race.  I have been wanting to return to the site of my painful 2011 marathon finish, when an IT-band injury compelled me to walk the last 7 miles of the 26.2 mile race.  This time I'm sticking with the half-marathon event, although the course is, for all purposes, the same, albeit without a repeated loop and a detour in the early goings...