A New "Mile"stone: 16 Miles!

by Maria Torres

I was in Tempe, AZ, the weekend of the 15 mile run and I ended up skipping it altogether. I did find a gym there to do some of my shorter runs, so at least that was something. I am disappointed with myself that I didn't just go ahead and run it on Monday when I got back to Telluride, but I am still planning on running it in the coming weeks. This will be increasingly difficult as the runs get longer with each passing week, but I want to have completed every single training run before I run the marathon on November 16th.

The 16 mile run was this past weekend, and I finished it feeling great. The only real obstacles that stood in my way were: 1. the wind at the end of the run, and 2. my poor decision not to take my Camelbak with me. Stacy and I didn't stay together during the run (she did do really well considering the high altitude & the hilly terrain here), and I had planned on drinking some of the water Justin had on his bike. That didn't work out, so by mile 15 I was delirious. I finally stumbled into a gas station and asked the guy at the counter if he had any "bottled water...fountain" - he could tell that I needed water pretty badly. When he asked how many miles I had run, I told him I was almost at mile 16. He seemed pretty impressed, and he offered up the gas station as my water headquarters for my upcoming runs. He was a lifesaver!

The wind tried to see to it that I didn't complete mile 16, and I just barely won that battle. It didn't help that the last leg of the run was uphill either. I felt like I wasn't moving towards the end. I am really glad I have 1.5 months of training left, because I didn't have 10 miles left in me last Saturday. The best part of the whole run though came at the end. David had already finished his 16 miles, and when he saw Stacy & Justin and realized I hadn't had access to water for the entire run, he got on his bike and rushed out to find me. When I saw him, he stopped, quickly jumped off his bike, and held out the hose to his Camelbak so I could drink some water. It was the sweetest thing - I knew how exhausted he must've been, and that didn't stop him. I'm getting a lump in my throat typing this, so I'm moving on...

To make up for the 8 miles I missed last Wednesday (9/24), I ran it on Monday, my day off. I ran 4 miles on Tuesday, and 8 again yesterday. So after I finish my 5 today, I'll be up to 25 for this week - and that doesn't even include my 12 mile run this weekend. We're definitely starting to put in some serious miles, and my appetite sure reflects it. In the morning, a bowl of cereal only keeps me full for about an hour. By the end of training, I'll be craving a big steak dinner for breakfast. Ha ha!

Happy October everyone!!