The 18 miles I ran after the Balloon Festival

1. This isn’t going to be another “I feel guilty because I haven’t been following my plan but I still have gotten out there almost every day of the week” posts. Except it is.

I had a bad long run last week and then this weekend, because of obligations at dawn and dusk, I didn’t get a chance to run long at all. There was a lot of self-loathing and deprecation on my part. But then, when I got the weekly report from my Daily Mile, it didn’t look that bad.

There was some cycling in there that rounded out that number (only 27 miles of the total is running) but … it’s not like my dual marathon dreams are dashed. Far from it. So stop your belly aching, Pattie.

2. I had 13 miles on the schedule this week, but since I pitifully missed my 18-miler last week I knew I had to make it up this week. I got up at 4:45 a.m. and got out the door by 5:30 a.m. and GOT THAT SHIT DONE before work on Monday morning. I had never run 18 miles alone before. I had never run 18 miles on a work day before. And you know what? I lived through both. Pretty easily. I forgot how much easier it is to run when its 60 degrees out versus 80 degrees.

3. Did I mention how much easier it is to run when its cooler? Because it is. Seriously. I don’t even know why I bother when its hot.

4. I noticed I had no trouble keeping my heart rate low on this morning’s long run. My average pace was 11:03 per mile, with no breaks in the middle. That is probably the fastest I have ever run this distance (without stopping at all).

There were points on this run that my heart rate was below 120. I hadn’t been wearing the monitor for awhile — it is leaving permanent chafe marks over my sternum — and as it was the long run, I didn’t feel compelled to make myself go faster than my “I can run at this pace forever” pace. My average heart rate was 124. That’s crazy low. So maybe I have been feeling bloated and slow lately, but technology tells me that is not true.

4. I spent the weekend at the Great Falls Balloon Festival (see 1). It was so lovely.

Also I have the greatest job ever, where I can spend a weekend making people on the Internet happy. 😉

One of my mantras going up hills is “you’re a hot air ballon.” And it works, to think of rising so beautifully, effortlessly, with hot breath raising me up.

I hear I am going to need this mantra at the MDI marathon. I prefer not to think about that now.

5. My two-year running milestone is coming up. I always think of it as “the Balloon Festival, 2010.” I feel like I should do something to celebrate it (Aug. 25). Since the day I decided to start running, I have not run less than 3 days a week for two years. The longest period of time I have ever stuck to any new habit, conscientiously. And that is pretty cool.

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.