20.10 miles
When I first posted on June 2nd that I would be sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly of training, today’s 20 miles – the last big long run before Chicago – would have all three of them.
The Good
I finished all 20 miles! That’s obviously the best part, and without any issues from my hip which I think was a fluke thing. My body wants me to remain cautious during the last few weeks of training, and this was probably its way of making me paranoid about every single ache, twinge, or tweak. It’s working.
The weather was absolutely wonderful! In fact, I’ve mentioned a few times how I wanted to manifest 60 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast, and light wind for race day. Well, today came pretty darn close. The temperature started in the 60s and ended in the low 70s. There was a slight breeze but not much. But the sun never peeked out through the beautiful overcast. The humidity was barely noticeable.
Just before I started the run I was listening to E Street Radio on SiriusXM and it was the show Cover Me which plays Bruce Springsteen covering other artists and other artists covering Springsteen. The first song was Bruce covering the Chuck Berry hit “You Never Can Tell” and it’s one of my favorites that I have not been able to listen to other than on YouTube so of course, I kept hitting Restart Show so I could listen to it over and over again for about 14 times. I couldn’t stop. If I could put Bruce’s version on my running playlist I’d add it in a heartbeat!
The Bad
I can’t seem to get my fueling down. After all these weeks of training and trying something, and then trying something else, I still can’t seem to nail this one really important aspect of running a marathon.
Today I focused on only having the Spring Energy Gels and for the most part, they worked fine. I didn’t have any adverse effects from them so that’s good, but I’m not sure if I’m trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and force something that I still don’t particularly care for. However, the one thing I like about Spring Energy is that it helps curb any hunger I get about a couple of hours in. It’d be great if I was fast enough where I was done with the marathon in a couple of hours, but *womp womp* I’m not.
The Ugly
Something I haven’t mentioned yet is I’m kind of treating Chicago as if it is my last marathon and this could very well be my last Chicago.
I feel as if I don’t understand what my body wants to do anymore. About 14 miles in I could feel some discomfort on my right foot and figured this was the start of a blister. As long as there wasn’t unbearable pain that could potentially lead to a severe injury, I would power through.
When I was home, and ready to take my much-anticipated shower, I took off my Injinji socks ready to reveal the damage to my feet. Turns out the blister was not on my right foot, but on my left. Today’s shoes are some newer Hoka Bondi 7 that have been feeling fine lately. But this has happened before early on in training. Surprise! I was ready to see a blister on my right foot when all that time without any ounce of warning or hints, the blister was on my left. I haven’t had a blister since the beginning of July.
After 15 weeks of training, I’m feeling lost and confused and trying to trust everything I’ve done but when I get handed curveballs like that I don’t know what to trust anymore. And that scares me going into the race. I’ve gone into marathons with less preparation and survived, but I didn’t want to go into Chicago and get through it in survival mode, but that may very well be how it’s going to turn out.
While I’m happy I completed these 20 miles, I feel like I’m left with more questions than answers so there are some things I need to figure out in the next few weeks.
For now, I’m going to listen to Bruce and the E Street Band one more time and finish watching Cobra Kai.
Thank you for reading my daily post on my Chicago Marathon training.