9 miles! Saturday morning I did my 9 mile run. I was pretty nervous about it considering my IT band issues, but I was wearing my knee brace and hoping for the best.
The night before I prepared some homemade Gu based on a recipe I found online. I knew I was going to need something if I was going to run that long, and I didn’t have any Gu’s at home. I’ll post the recipe in a bit.
At any rate, I did the 4 minute run, 1 minute walk thing. Apparently, when I ran, I ran pretty hard (for me anyway) because I made it back with just over ten minute miles! More importantly, I made it with no knee pain in my right knee.
I did have a little soreness in my left leg in the muscle just above the knee. It felt like it might have been IT band related too. I’m elated. The run was pretty tough too. There were quite a few hills, one of which was about 200 feet of elevation over maybe half a mile. The other side of that hill was a 10 percent grade so I actually walked all the way down the other side.
The homemade gu was yummy, and it really seemed to help. I ran out of it at around mile 6, and I’m thinking that is why mile 9 was sooooo miserable. Having said that, I ran the race on pace for a 10 minute mile. Which would have me finishing the half marathon at a respectable (for me) 2:10 or so. I would be thrilled to break the 2 hour mark, but I will take just finishing.
More on my race strategy as I get closer to race day, mostly because I have no idea yet.