Feeling like Forrest Gump

27 Days! That's all that stand between me and my first attempt at running 50 Miles. After all those months of training it's come down to this. Today was my last chance to get in a mammoth type of long run and I took advantage of the fact that I didn't have my 2 boys today and went out just after 7:30.

Last weekend I decided to do 2, 10.5 mile loops and made a pit stop at my house to re-fuel. Today I topped that by doing 3, 10.1 mile loops. I purposely picked this so I could simulate the feeling of pushing myself out on the course 3 times. Because I had done 2 laps the week before, I knew that mentally and physically I would be fine. Doing that 3rd lap meant that I had to use plenty of mental imagery to take my mind off the fact of the unknown.

On the advice of one of my friends, I decided to go the opposite way for my 2nd lap. Even though I was doing the same route, it helped to run downhill where I would usually run uphill and vice versa. Doing the first two laps was difficult but manageable. The weather during the 2nd lap was colder than the first one which surprised me a little. Luckily there wasn't much wind to deal with.

As I finished the 2nd lap and re-fueled for the final time at home, I gave myself a few extra minutes to stretch out my hamstrings and take in plenty of water, 1/2 banana and my electrolyte drink. My pace for that final lap was much slower than the last two but my main goal was to run for at least 4.5 to 5 hours so in this case the slower the better.

One of my favorite movies is Forrest Gump. In that movie there is a scene where Forrest is sitting on his chair on the front porch. There is a long moment of silence while he is gazing out and obviously thinking about something. Just then he gets up and starts running. That pretty much sums up how I feel most of the time. It would have been nice to have the company that he had during his runs though because I had to run alone today.

As I turned the corner and headed for home I was so proud of not giving in to any mental demons today. I was actually surprised at how well I felt. I took a few extra walk breaks but I think the main thing that helped me was that I was able to just relax and not worry about finishing my run in a certain time or at a particular pace.

Here's the final tally:
Total Distance: 30.3 Miles (49 K's)
Total Time: 5 Hours
Calories burned: well over 3700
Total songs listened to: Too many to count
Total bathroom breaks: 0
Total gels used: 4