21 miles!

I feel like a rock star! Yes, I completed my 21 miles this morning. And no, I did not have ANY GI problems whatsoever. It was a blast, and I feel terrific now! Here are some photos from my walk, and a description of how it went.

I got up 1 hour before I planned to leave the house so that I could take an Imodium caplet before my walk. I read for a little while, got dressed, and went out the door. The first 5-6 miles I took it very, very easy. I walked from my house to SugarHouse Park and met the team at the Lake Terrace parking lot at 7 am (I wanted to do 2 miles more than the team, so that's why I walked there; I ended up doing 3.2 more than the team workout of just under 18 miles, including the 1.6 each way to and from my house). We set out and went 1.5 times around the park and then headed north on 1500 East all the way to 900 S, then over to Guardsman way (slight right jog). Took that up to the U, then a left, past Rice-Eccles stadium, then right past the Trax station, up University Street, and up Virginia Street. Yes, we went up that HUGE hill. I racewalked all the way up but did stop for a minute to photograph the lovely flowers at the LDS ward near the top of the hill.



At this point I was still feeling really great and was careful to watch and keep my heart rate under 135. I was hopeful that maybe it was going to be a good day; I'd been out for 1:25 or so, and was optimistic that I'd continue to feel good. I felt relaxed and had no pain or cramping. At the top of the hill we turned left on 11th Avenue, and enjoyed the great view of the Salt Lake Cemetery and the city.



I love 11th Ave. It's one of the most awesome places to walk in the whole city. We followed it all the way to City Creek Canyon, and enjoyed the views along the way. This picture shows the cemetery with the University of Utah behind it, and then the mountains. It was a perfect day for walking - temps started at 50 degrees (10C) and warmed up to the mid-60s by the time I finished. I wore short sleeves, my Race Ready shorts (I love them SO much!), and a pair of gloves (my hands always get cold if it's under 55). I did remove the gloves and stuff them in my waistband after about 7 miles or so, and by the end of the 21 miles, I was pretty warm and was loving the shady spots.



Along 11th ave, at about 1:40:xx, I took my first gel, with lots of water. I just felt like I needed it about that point.

City Creek Canyon is so gorgeous, and I got this photo of the State Capitol building, from the start of the canyon road.



We walked the canyon road all the way to the State Capitol, then turned around and returned the way we came. I took another gel at the aid station on 11th Ave, and stuffed one in my pocket for later. It was a lot of fun coming down Virginia Street, though the hill is so steep it's tough to have good racewalking form. I did OK, though, except for one teeny part that I cut the corner on the sidewalk and went over about 10 feet of grass; I ran that part :).

Once I got down to University St, I stopped at a water fountain in the park. Continuing on, there was an aid station by the Pioneer Theater, so I stopped for another gel, lots of water, and a few pretzels. I was still feeling really good at this point, about 3 hours into my walk. Yeah!!!

There was some sort of National Guard something going on at Rice-Eccles stadium. There were a ton of Guardsmen in uniform (Sarah W would have loved it!), helicopters in the parking lot, and lots of large army vehicles. It was entertaining to watch all of the goings-on, though I'm not quite sure what they were doing. Probably recruiting. I took this photo of Rice-Eccles stadium from Guardsman Way.



As I retraced my route along 15th East, I was enjoying how nice it was to feel good on a long walk. I decided I could speed up a little at the end, since I was feeling pretty decent. My legs were a little tired, and I had some slight chafing under my arms (note to self: bring some Body Glide next time), but other than that I felt good. I sped up to make my heart rate about 140-145. I stopped at the aid station at 1300S and 1500E, and they were out of gels. Drat. So I had some water and some Gatorade, and a few more pretzels. Shortly after this, I saw these helicopters in formation, right overhead! I assume they were associated with whatever the National Guard was doing at the stadium.

I went on to SugarHouse Park, stopping for a quick pit stop at Einstein's Bagels (I did have to stop 3 times for brief restroom breaks, because I was well-hydrated :)!). Around the park once, stopping at Lake Terrace to sign out from the team workout, and then all the way back home. I was going to walk the last mile slowly, but I felt so good I decided to racewalk the whole way. Don't tell anyone (hahahaha! I'm blogging this, so now everyone knows!) but I did use my headphones for a good part of the way (Team in Training doesn't officially allow them on team workouts, but no one was walking/running at my pace today, so there was no one to report me :)!). Music makes a huge difference to me in lifting my spirits and keeping my going. I wonder if that's part of the reason today went so well?

I finished in 3:56:57, including the pit stops and quick water stops. Not including stops, it was 3:52:51. Including stops, I did an 11:17 pace (more like 11:05 without stops). OK, it's slower than I would prefer to be for the marathon, but 1) this is a training walk, not a race, and 2) I had NO GI TROUBLE. I may have to do the marathon this slowly to avoid GI problems. If so, well, I'm OK with that. We'll see what happens on the 22-miler in 2 weeks. If I feel good on that one, I'll pick up the pace a little sooner and see how my system handles it. Since I changed a lot of variables today (lactose, pace, no eating after 6 pm last night, and Imodium this morning) I am not sure which one is responsible for the improvement, so I'll need to be cautious about the pace.

The two best things about this morning? 1) No GI problems, and 2) when I was done, I was sure I could have done 5 more miles if I had had to. I really feel confident now that I can finish a marathon!!!!! Wooooo hoooooo!!!