18 miles and smiling :)

Saturday 9/20 was a perfect day to run. The temperature ranged in 50-60s It was cold but not too cold. I was mentally prepared to run 18 miles. I reached the Asha tree at about 7:40 am. Few people had shown up because most runners were away in Philly for the half-marathon. I casually asked, "How many miles are you doing today?", and discovered to my horror that everyone had just 10 miles on their schedule. I was the only one doing 18 miles, and was quite frightened. I even had doubts that I had read my schedule wrong. I calmed down and decided, "18 miles = 3 Harlem Hill loops. Lets tackle this one loop at a time."

I set off with Divya. The first mile was slow, trying to get our bodies to wake up and warm up. Gradually we picked up pace, tackled the Cat Hill bump and reached the reservoir entrance. We switched to the Bridle Path that runs parallel to the road (Be kind to your knees whenever you can, you will miss them when they are gone ), and followed it all the way to the 102 lamp post. Sapna caught up with us and consoled me that two other 18-milers showed up at the tree after we set off and that they are tackling the loop in the opposite direction. Here was some consolation. We switched to the road and ran on the loop to the Northwest corner of the park. Met Sheela, Lisbeth and Prerna going in the opposite direction near Columbus circle.We were taking walk breaks only at the water fountains. Our bodies were cooling down rapidly when we stopped running and we couldn't afford that. The good thing about it was I learnt how to recover without taking a walk break and we finished the first loop in about 70 minutes, significant improvement for us 12-13 mpmers.

After getting back to the tree, we grabbed Gu gels and water and headed for the next round. Divya promised to run 2 miles with me and planned to turn back from the 102 lamppost. We jogged along steadily, stopping only for water and parted ways at the start of the Harlem Hill stretch. Met Sheela again, she wanted to run with me but I blew her off; it would have been like rabbit and tortoise running together. Met Ketul, met Lisbeth (it is good to have people running the loop in opposite directions). Switched to the Bridle Path on the westside parallel to the road from 100 to 84th. Crossed someone who looked like Delilah (from the Hey there, Delilah fame). Maybe she was Delilah, maybe my mind was playing games with me.

Towards the end of the second loop, I was expecting my knees to start protesting but there wasn't even a whimper. To compensate, my lower back had started squirming. I could feel a strain set in my lower back on the right side. I tried stretching my back, bending forward and backwards but there was no relief. I mentioned it to Sapna when I reached the tree. She said I need to stengthen my core. Made a mental note to do back strengthening exercise and not to skip ab crunches and planks :(

I still had one more loop to go and the time was 10:30 am. Most people had finished their 10 miles and were ready to leave. I asked Kaushik (my b-i-l is our bag-watcher at the Asha tree ;) to take my bag home and planned the last 6 mile route. Since I stay in the Upper West Side, I could run the loop until W80 St and turn around and run back to W110 St to complete the distance. I could simply walk home from there. I set off on the last loop. I met Sheela (again!) on the East side Bridle Path. She was watching out for me, such a nice mentor ;) Hugs and hi-fives later, I jogged on. My legs were a bit tired and I was taking frequent walk breaks. Apart from my weak lower back and slower pace, the going was good. By now I had crossed the same few people, several times (they must have thought I was crazy). I had run 17 miles without music. In the final mile I decided to reward myself with dhinchak hindi songs. I was singing along loud while running the last mile. I got out of the park at noon. I had been running for 4 hours. That's the longest I have ever run. My legs were tired but no serious pains. It is amazing how muscles have memory, they remembered that they had done 16 miles last week and they cooperated on the extra 2 miles. Wonder what would happen if they suddenly developed amnesia :-O

Overall, the best 18 miles I have ever run. On my way back home, one guy smiled and asked "Looks like you have been at it for a long time." I said, "Yes, four hours." He says, "No wonder you look so great!!" I had this big grin on my face all the way home ;) ;)

Mileage: 6+4+18 = 28