So this is how this works. Wendy emails me my training plans one week at a time. It keeps it a bit of a mystery and it also helps me to not get too far ahead of myself. Today, day one, was a bit of a catch up day. I finished my last first year law school exam on Friday at 5pm. That was followed by a champagne toast(s)...more celebrating and, well...this should give you a good idea:
Saturday was a mad dash to pack everything I had been using all year and get it to my storage space - 45 minutes away from school at Georgetown Law. It was exhausting to say the least. Sunday morning I was on an 8am flight home to Duluth, MN. I will be here for a few weeks before starting my summer job in the Twin Cities.
Anyway, I hadn't done a long run this weekend...and the past 2 weeks have been just short little maintenance runs (I did get in 11 last weekend) just to make it through exams.
So our big experiment started with a 20-miler. I have actually been really excited about this run because I knew I would get to do it in my hometown. Duluth, MN is a beautiful place with zillons of great places to put together a scenic, and challenging, long run.
For those of you who know Duluth: I left my house at 22nd and 4th - ran up Wallace to Woodland and turned right on Snively - went out about 4 miles or so on Jean Duluth and then looped back - took a left on Glenwood and then left up to Hawk Ridge - ran that all the way down Seven Bridges Road - returned home via London Road. Here is a nice cell phone pic I took from up at Hawk Ridge:
The beginning was VERY tough. I felt exhausted, my stomach hurt, my legs felt heavy. Also, in DC I have been running almost completely flat courses - so starting off with some hills was a bit of a shock to my system. After about 3 miles, though, I started to settle in and I was just so dang happy to be out there.
Overall it went well but I was complete toast at the end. During my last mile I had to run up Lemon Drop Hill...the only real hill on the Grandma's Marathon course. I finished around 23rd and then had to walk straight up 21st to get home. I was NOT pleased at that point. My legs were trashed, numb, tired, screaming.
All that said, it was a great accomplishment for my first real day with "Coach Wendy." :)
Wendy was nice enough to send me an email last night (that I was not allowed to open until right before my run) telling me exactly how she wanted me to execute this run - what the run was supposed to accomplish. You may think it sounds like Wendy has nothing better to do with her time...which couldn't be further from the truth. She is a mother of two (an 8 year old and an 8 month old...or something like that) and is a nurse completing her PhD. She also takes her own training quite seriously and runs insane amounts with her own running crew where she lives in IN, including her incredibly accomplished and talented husband, father, and brother. She's a rock star. Lucky me.
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