Oh My Feet Hurt!

Mile 1191, Chandler, AZ - A 2o miler wasn't planned for this close to the marathon. 14 days away and I wanted to be tapering. But, I also wanted to get in at least one 20 miler before I ran my first marathon.

So, today's plan was to go to church for the 8 am service and pick up my kids. They were doing a Rock-a-thon all night to raise money for their youth mission trip to N'awlins this summer. Then get in 20 miles before Amy and I went up to Scottsdale to a party at our friends house.

This is a picture at the 2.5 mile mark. At this point I passed Citation drive and was running like a stallion. I later passed Secretariat drive too. South Tempe has lots of triple crown race names for streets. I was feeling pretty good. I had cola flavored NUUN in my drink bottle and lots of GUs.

At 3.5 miles I get to the canal. Right before the canal I was running up to an older lady. She wasn't dressed to run and had her purse on her left shoulder. When I got to about 20 yards behind her, she started running. She never looked back at me and was running at a pretty good clip. Finally, she couldn't run anymore. I got to about 10 yards behind her and she looked back a bit. I said, "hi, nice morning". I think she felt relieved that I wasn't a purse thief (she did change shoulders and seemed to protect the purse still) or worse. She even said hi back. I kept running and turned onto the canal.

I ran east on the canal for a mile and then turned around to head toward Ken McDonald Golf Course. The temps were mid 50's and I wore sweat pants and a zippered sweat top over my running shirt. I looked like Bill Clinton out for a Presidential jog. More on that later.

I get to run past the golf course twice. Going north I run from a blind spot right in front of a tee box. A dangerous proposition, if there are golfers about to tee off. Otherwise I really like running along the course and watching the golfers.

I got up to Kiwanis Park and ran around the lake. Lots of people enjoying the lake and park. My legs still felt pretty good at this time and i was making good time. Right around 12 minute miles for the first 8-9 miles.

While passing the golf course for the second time it was time to head south to get back into Chandler. I get to run thru the tunnel of chain link fence. Good thing, I heard a golf ball hit a tree just on the other side as I ran by.

The canals have concrete sidewalks and dirt paths. I usually run on the dirt. This is around the 12 mile mark. I was getting a bit tired, but my legs felt a lot better at this point then they did last week.

More canals get me further south.

This was new territory for me. I was supposed to take a left in a subdivision to get to Kyrene Road, but didn't and ended up on the train tracks. It was less than a half mile to the next main road.

3 hours into the run and I pulled a Bill Clinton. No, not that. Remember I was wearing a sweat suit with stripes down the side. I looked like our old prez, but at least I was warm. I was getting hungry, it was lunch time and there was a McDonalds. Yep, I stopped in there. Downed a salt packet for good measure and ate a small cheeseburger. No, pictures of the burger. I ran thru Gila Springs, a nice subdivision in Chandler along the lake and creek, then eastward toward Desert Breeze Park.

This is the entrance to the Hummingbird Habitat in the park. That's a really cool metal entry with a metal tree behind it. I'll have to get a better picture of it. I've never seen this entry, eventhought I've run past it before.

I had about 3 miles to go before I got my 20 miles in. So, I ran around the lake and headed for home.

This is a cool sculpture in the park. Kids walking on a log over a creek. At this point I was run/walking and just trying to get the full 20 miles in. No more pictures, I guess I was too tired. I made it home at 19.55 miles. I threw my outer top down on my SUV hood and continued to run around the block. There was no way I was going to stop before I got to 20 miles, even thought I was walking a lot. I ended up finishing 20 miles in 4 hours and 45 minutes. A pace of 14:17.

I walked into the house to find all three of my family members sound asleep. I woke Amy, grabbed a shower and we were out the door on our way to Jerry and Diane's for their party. The food never tasted better. I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy eating.

From time to time during this run, I thought about Chad. Chad is another runner here in the desert and he ran the Across the Years 24 hour race yesterday. Although he didn't do as well as he wanted to, he did great. 38 miles total before a leg injury ended his race. Check out his blog, he should have a race report up in the next day or two.

It's now 5 1/2 hours after I finished and my feet still hurt. My legs feel good and my knees feel good. Can I do 26.2 miles on the 13th of January? I'm still not sure.

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Running Schedule:

January 13th: Rock N Roll Full Marathon

January 26th: Run for the Islands 5

February 17: Lost Dutchman Half Marathon

March 1: Ostrich Festival 5k
March 9: Valley of the Sun Half Marathon

March 29: Laughlin Half Marathon

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