Bad prep for a decent run

I had my longest training run on Saturday morning...and I do mean morning... 5am.

Well, the bad prep started on Friday night. I was going to babysit and had to be there at 5:15. I had planned on packing my run stuff before I left to babysit, but I feel asleep for an hour and didn't wake up until 4:45-ish. No time for that. I left, thinking the parents would be back about 9, just like they were last time. When I got there, the mom told me they wouldn't be home until 11:30. NEAT. Once the kids were in bed about 8, I watched a little tv and tried to sleep. Sleeping on an uncomfortable couch at someone else's house does NOT work for me. I didn't sleep at all, and the parents didn't get home until midnight!! By the time I got home, packed my stuff and got to bed, it was 1am!

Wake up call: 4am. 3 hours of sleep...NEAT again.

I actually didn't feel too bad. Actually, the first 14 miles were great! I ran with Bill and he kept me laughing the whole time (as we were laughing at Patrick leading the group, trying to flag cars away so they wouldn't run us over). Oh, I should mention Bill saved my life twice..with me not paying attention to oncoming cars as we ran on Humphries...oops.

Well, about mile 18, I hit a MAJOR wall. Nutrionally, I stayed on schedule. It was the lack of sleep. I had already ran longer than I had slept the night before! I think that's probably a bad thing...

We ended the run going thru the blue trail which I had never been on. That made it worse because I had NO clue where we were. The group got ahead of us a bit in the last mile because my hamstrings and back started cramping up, not to mention I felt like I could fall asleep WHILE running... Tony stayed back with, because (in his words) "He couldn't leave me to die on the trail"...that's a happy thought :)

I got back to the car and I have NEVER been so happy to be done with a run. I was happy I got 24 miles in, but I was sooooo tired. I came home and ate, showered, and laid down. I actually had a lot of trouble sleeping because I was hurting so badly.

To finish off my Saturday, I tracked Court and Jules online during Ironman Florida!!! They ROCKED it out. Court finished in just under 14 hours, and Jules finished in 16 hours. I'm so proud of them and I cannot wait to go through this next year so I can experience what they felt crossing that line, hearing "YOU are an Ironman"....