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Saturday, December 22, 2007

First time for everything...


Today was a day of firsts:


  • First 10 mile run
  • First run with my new Garmin Forerunner 305
  • First time to use a gel on a long run
  • First ice bath after a long run
I'll devote a paragraph to each to elaborate.

We were scheduled to run 10 miles today, but in the end I actually wound up running 10.95 miles. We ran part of the way on the course of the Mercedes Half Marathon. I've mapped it out on www.mapmyrun.com and again, if I did it correctly, it should show up at the end of the post.


The Garmin Forerunner was a gift from my husband for Christmas. We exchanged gifts
yesterday and I was so excited when I got it. It showed my pace during the whole run and kept
up with the mileage. Definitely a worthwhile investment. I'm excited about reading the manual
and finding out what else it can do.

I also used a gel for the first time on this run. I got a Clif Shot in mango flavor. We had a water
stop around five miles so that's where I stopped to do the gel. It tasted pretty awful and I had to
choke it down taking a sip of water and then another chunk of gel. I was worried about it
upsetting my stomach, but once it was down, I was good. I wondered if it would really help me.
About a mile later we started up a long hill (about a mile long) and I could definitely feel it working.
I'm glad I had it with me. I just need to find a flavor that isn't so horrendous.

I felt relatively good the entire run, which surprised me. I've been trying to psych myself up all
week telling myself that I could go this far and I guess it worked. I was the last person to finish
(again) but I felt so good when it was over that I didn't care! I was just glad to be done. A few of
us went over to Starbucks to get some coffee and warm up and then I drove home.

Now it's time to talk about the ice bath. Our coach told us we should do this after our long runs,
but I was a bit skeptical. I think I was more nervous about the ice bath than the actual run! I got
home and filled up the tub. That took a while since we have a big garden tub. More time to delay
the pain of getting in. Finally it was time. I called my husband into the bathroom so he could
distract me while I was in the tub. Getting in was excruciating! I let out a few choice expletives
while submerging my lower half in the water. After two minutes though, as long as I didn't move, it
felt like I was in warm water. I stayed in for 15 minutes and then got out of the tub into a warm
shower. The shower felt like heaven! And I could already tell that my legs were feeling better
than they normally do after a run. I could bend down to get the shampoo and it didn't hurt at all!
I think I'm a believer in ice baths now!

Now I think I'm going to take a nap for awhile. I think I've deserved it. :)

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