I did it..17 miles and I lived to tell the story!

Yesterday at work, I spoke with Karen, an Elite Athlete, who gave me great advice on how to run 17 miles in the heat. She suggested I do loops  which would allow me to stop at my car, refill my water bottle and get a snack if needed. I followed her advice and, although the last two miles were a killer, this time I was able to run/walk until the bitter end!

I packed a cooler with extra electrolyte drinks, water bottles and a banana. I ran one mile out, then back which gave me my first two miles. The I started a five mile loop. I had a GU at 4.5 miles then at 7 miles, I stopped at the car and filled up my electrolyte drink, ate 1/3 of my banana then did my next five. Somewhere around 8 miles I had a shot block, some drink and then another GU at 10 miles. I stopped again at 12 miles, Hubby was there to make sure I was OK.  At the 12 mile stop, I repeated exactly what I done at mile 7.  Off again for the last 5 miles and the temperature was rising which was really zapping my energy but I kept going adding another couple shot blocks and a GU at mile 14.5.

The last 2.5 miles were a killer, it was hot and I was running out of my electrolyte drink. I kept walking and running, just moving forward.  At least my head was in a good space and I knew I would complete this training run.  I kept going and thankfully, I finally hit the 17mile mark on my Garmin.  It was such a wonderful feeling to know that I had accomplished this goal, something I had dreaded all week.