18 Miles - what was I thinking?

Weather - last night it looked like it might rain during the run this morning.  I resolved that I'd just have to run anyways because after today it's going to be roughly eight million degrees after today.  (boo!)
I checked the radar when I got up and it seemed a certainty that I'd be getting wet.  Given my recent history of mixing water and electronics I decided to leave the phone at home and just use my little iPod Shuffle (the only one that still works) on the run.  It actually didn't really rain until I was about a mile from home.  It was humid but definitely cooler and breezier than my last long run.

Shoes - I thought I'd try an experiment and run with the old shoes because my pink shoes have been hurting me a lot on long runs.  With the old guys I got blisters because my skin has grown accustomed to the new shoes so the run was pretty painful.  But I'm sitting here writing this twelve hours later and my feet hurt way less than they normally do after a run.  I ordered new shoes on Amazon last night. Hopefully they'll be somewhere in between.

The route - I needed to do 18 miles and I was in the mood for a river run. The river alone is not long enough so I added a few lakes. I find myself getting frustrated with Lake Nokomis on long runs because I'm not used to being all, "slow down, pace yourself". When I'm at that lake it's usually "GO!" Here's the route I ultimately found.


The usual - totally got 'sick' again.  But I knew there was a facility close by when it happened.  So, I'm running and mentally telling myself, "I know it hurts, it'll be here in a second, hang on, you're doing fine".  I looked at the port-a-pot and I couldn't find the freaking door.  Are you kidding?!?  Upon closer review, the door had been turned to face the wall of the structure it was next to.  Like, they just put that one out of commission for a little while?  WTF?  It's not really important how that issue resolved itself.  There was another 'sick' break after that too, less than a mile later.  After that I was fine for the rest of the run.  (What could I possibly have left in there to cause problems?)

The usual, but with food - I did much better with nutrition being gentle to my stomach on this run.  I have no idea what I was doing except maybe pacing myself better.   I think having chomps and Gu helped but I can't say for sure.

Music - July gets a new playlist.  Some of my favorites on this list include

• You've Got the Love - Florence + The Machine and thanks to Alicia for starting my love affair with Florence + The Machine.
• Call the Police - James Morrison definitely a slower song but it works well for long runs and calming myself down.
• Somebody Needs You - Low Fidelity Allstars.  Together we can take it home...
• Fireflies - Owl City which totally made me think of my little cousins from California who hadn't seen fireflies before our party in Kentucky last weekend.
• Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen.  I mean, really, what could be better?

Random bit of awesome - I went to Run N Fun last night because I needed Chomps and Gu for today.  I wasn't even paying attention when I went in but I was wearing one of my Bolder Options shirts.  When I went to pay, the guy was all, "oh, we do a lot of work with Bolder Options.  Mentors get a discount here so I'll just ring that in..."  WIN!  And actually for nutrition, it was a good price to start with.