text: Milestones | Slow and Steady Wins the Race
  « Speed Demon…I am not
  by Ann Tyer on August 2, 2010
  photo courtesy of kenkilfedder
  I ran 14 miles on Saturday! It's my longest. run. ever. At least until two weeks from now when I run 17.
  We are in uncharted waters now. I am running distances that I said I would *never* run.
  I ran this one solo. The people I have been running with on Saturdays were running, but they usually do 5:1 intervals and I know that is just too much for me at long distances. Can you say BURN OUT. I would die at mile 5. I also needed to go s-l-o-w.
  I decided to go with 2:1 intervals and that turned out to be the sweet spot. I ran all of the intervals comfortably. I wasn't feeling tired at the end of each interval and had no problem running when the watch beeped for the next run. All signs that this was the right timing for me on that day. Another good sign was my heart rate was in Zone 4 for the majority of my run!
  The first 8 miles were a breeze. As usual at mile 9 my hips and knees were starting to complain. Not too bad though. Mile 10 I stopped by my car and dropped off some water bottles. I also got the rocks out of my shoes (the only downside to running on the ATT).
  As I set off for the last 4 miles I had to break it down into smaller chunks in my head.
  Just make it two miles and then you get to turnaround. Just make it through this 2 minute interval and you get to walk.
  At 11.5 miles my legs and knees were really starting to scream. I was having flash backs of the pain I was in at the end of my half marathon. At mile 12 I was feeling THE WALL trying to push me back. I ate some sport beans and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. For the first time in the run I walked through a running interval. The extended break helped.
  At mile 13 I forced myself to push. I picked up the pace and ran the last 3 running intervals as fast as I could. All 3 were at a 9 min/mile pace or faster. I had to prove to myself that my mind could overrule my body. After those 3 running intervals, I was spent. I was so happy to see my car.
  14 miles – 3:06:00 – Avg pace 13:19 min/mile.
  My other major milestone. I ran 71 miles in the month of July.
  SEVENTY ONE!
  Tags: Full Marathon, Galloway method, happy running, long run, marathon training, milestone, morning run, progress, Zone 4
  And now I know how to use my Garmin…that was fun doing intervals in my head!
  Good job getting through that long run!
  Body = 1 Mind = 0 🙂
  Way to go, girl! I, unfortunately, have NEVER run that far… but I HAVE hiked that far!
  Quite an accomplishment for someone with a love/hate relationship with running! 🙂
  Props to you for hiking that far! I think that probably had to be more difficult than running. I loved hiking the trails around Boone when I lived up there.
  Just came over to your site and love it! We're at about the same place with our paces. I'll be reading from now on. 🙂 Thanks for the advice on my recent post…check out today's post for cred! 🙂