20 miler - the dress rehersal 10/5

I was returning from Colorado on Saturday and missed the run with the group. I had anticipated this and was worried about running 20 miles all alone on Sunday. I posted to the group about running on Sunday and 3 people replied. We planned to meet at the Asha tree at 8 am and run a few miles together. The weather forecast looked good - cold and sunny in 50s.

I woke up at 6:30 am, got dressed and was about to leave when Ravi called. It was raining outside. Until now I hadn't noticed the gray overcast sky and the silent steady downpour outside. weather.com now showed 50s and showers throughout the morning. I am surprised at their inability to predict the weather six hours ahead.

Ravi and I planned to wait an hour and meet at 9 am instead. By then the rain had stopped but the sky was still overcast. My mentor called me in the interim and literally drove me out, "Why aren't you out running? Its ok to run in a mild drizzle. Don't fuss about it. Just go!"

There were many people in the park wearing wind-breakers and braving it out. Ravi hadn't run for more than a month due to a back injury. He wasn't sure how much he would be able to run. He desperately wanted to do the 20-miles so that he felt confident on race day. He decided to go for it a mile at a time as long as his back held up.

We started out at about 9:30 am, did the 6-mile loop of the park, stopping only at the water fountains. Our progress was slow with close to 100% humidity, no rain and the day getting warmer. The second loop was tougher. Towards the end we were stopping frequently to stretch the pain that was developing in the ITB band (at the side of the knee). My ankle was holding up fine, (it bothers me only on short distances). My back felt fine too, I had made a conscious attempt at keeping my head upright and looking straight ahead. Ravi gave me a tip that coach had instructed in the first session, "Imagine a string holding your head straight up." I kept that in mind rest of the way.

We decided to tackle the third loop in the reverse direction. Both of us were developing some pain in the knee and at the side of the thigh. Ravi was running after a long time and it was quite possible that his muscles were taking a hit. But what about mine? I had run 12 miles last week and 18 the week before?? :( I blamed it on not switching to the soft surface (Bridle Path) like last time. We went around the loop taking frequent walk breaks and reached the East side. The pain in my right knee was bothering me quite a bit. We still had about 2 miles left. I decided to loop around the reservoir. We had barely gone halfway when I realized that I couldn't take the pain anymore and gave up. We had done about 18.5 miles. I walked the rest of the distance :(