20 lovely miles

I think the treadmill is spoiling me. Easy to keep pace, nice fan right above me, water at my fingertips. Ah, well, I'll deal with the road when I come to it

I took the past three days off because I was feeling under the weather and wanted to make sure I'd be better for my scheduled 20 mile long run today. How sick is that? It was actually all I was looking forward to yesterday. And when I look forward to my runs, that's when I know it's going to be a good one.

There were plenty of things to keep me distracted while I ran at the gym today.

Miles 1-5
Incline: .5
Speed: 5.1 (11:45/mile pace)

No Galloway method for me today. I wanted to see if I had it in me to run the whole way, well, except for the short breaks I'd need to gobble some gummy things and drink my water every 30 minutes.

About 2 miles into my run, I felt something on my butt. I thought maybe I had something in my back pocket and it was falling down. Turns out it was just a friend tapping my butt to say hello. That cracked me up. Is it weird that I want to ask her how my butt felt?

Miles 6-10
Incline: .5
Speed: 5.1 (11:45/mile pace)

My friend finished up her run on the treadmill and returned with 5 other ladies who all hopped on a treadmill each in front of me. I guess my friend was teaching some kind of class and each lady would sprint for a little and then slow down. The lady closest to me was doing 5:45/miles and making it look so easy! She was really pretty and thin, too. I hate her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a lady on my right watching them, too. The interesting thing about her is that she was running on an incline and her boobs were damn near hitting her face with each bounce. It was hard not to stare. It looked pretty painful. It almost made me glad that I'm flat-chested. Almost.

Miles 11-16
Incline: .5
Speed: 5.1 (11:45/mile pace)

There is this super hot guy whom I always seeing doing various weights when I strength train. I am in love with this man's arms. For the first time ever, I saw him on the treadmills. He was walking on an incline, something crazy like 15. I secretly commanded him in my mind to run, because I don't think there is anything sexier than a guy running and I wanted to watch this man move. But alas, I guess I still need to work on my ESP skills, because he didn't run. He did take his cap off, though. And I noticed he had a little bald spot on top of his head. Oh. So I forced myself to concentrate on his arms and what little of his back was peeking through his tank. I didn't care if other people saw me blatantly eye-raping this guy for the 20 minutes he stayed on his treadmill. Love me some muscles in motion.

Miles 17-20
Incline: .5
Speed: 5.3 (11:19/mile pace)

That's right, world, make way for The Flash! Hehe. I wanted to do my last 4 miles at marathon pace. Man, just tiny changes in speed makes a world of difference in effort, but not too much in time. It still felt doable, but it required me to focus.

A lady walked over to me around Mile 17. I thought she was going to make a comment on how long I've been on the treadmill. Instead, she asked me if my name was Coco. WTF? I smiled and told her no. That was random. Maybe it was her pick-up line. She did seem to linger for a bit on her treadmill. But I still had about 40 minutes left. She eventually left.

20 miles
Approximately 3:54:30
Average pace about 11:44/mile

I actually felt pretty good for the whole run. It was something I knew I needed, and a great challenge for me.

My legs feel a bit tired. And my left foot, left knee and right hip flexor are screaming at me right now. But I'm feeling good!