In training for a half marathon, I'm used to long runs. Ten to 12 miles has always been the norm for my long runs. But with a number of other runners training for a full marathon, I decided to see what I could do this weekend when the planned long run for the marathon group was 15 miles.
And this wasn't going to be an easy run either. We had some hills on this course.
But in my normal fashion, I shrugged my shoulders and said to myself, "Eh, why not?"
Honestly, I can't believe I was so cavalier in approaching a 15-mile run. Yes, I had done 10-milers during four of the previous five weekends, but this was a distance I had never attempted before.
I had done nothing more than a half marathon, and I had only gone that far twice. Outside of that, nothing past 12 miles.
I was blazing some new trails here.
The group met at a gas station at the end of the Corbin By-Pass at 6 a.m., and we were doing a loop around and through the town. Started out foggy on that dark road, but I felt exhilarated by the prospects of completing this run.
It's hard to fully describe the course to those not familiar with the area, but this course needs some hills. Five difficult ones, in fact.
My previous record for biggest elevation climb at 712 feet, which came during the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon. Saturday's 15-miler provided me an elevation climb of 1,153 feet!
Being a training run, I didn't set any time goals. Just wanted to run and finish the course. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. However, when I hit 13.1-mile mark, I had bested my half marathon PR time by TEN MINUTES!!!
Like I said, I wasn't pushing it.
All this 15-mile run showed me was this: 1. convince me I can run a full marathon, 2. with a little more work, I can and will post a sub-2:15 at my half marathon in nine weeks, and 3. I LOVE RUNNING!!!
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