That was a really nice long run

I looked at the forecast this week and decided I didn't want to do a 14-mile run on a day when the low was supposed to be 70*. Call me a fusspot. Which meant my option was to do it this morning or suffer.

I had a really nice run. (Surprise!) I got up at the crack of dawn. (Oh that's right, the sun's not up at 5am anymore.) And headed out on my way.  I had some interesting ideas about pace on this run (you can go faster) so I did feel like I was pushing it in some places.  And then the little voice in my head would say, you know you ran an entire half marathon faster than this one time?  Great.  My $%*&#@!# phone crashed and restarted when I was about three blocks from home so I didn't get a total time on the run, but most of the laps looked really good.

Mile 1 - is always wonky because I was putting my phone in my pocket, walking at the beginning, etc.
Mile 2 - I really thought I was going faster but I might have still been in my "pace yourself" phase of the run.
Mile 3- that's better
Miles 4-6 - hell yeah I am!  The app, while it was running told me those splits were 11:38, 11:38 and 11:39.  Interesting.
Mile 7 - that's with a brief, um, stop, still doing fine
Mile 8 - that's with stopping to tie my shoe; I love that big downhill
Mile 9 - I am not freaked out about at all because it included both the big hill, me stopping for deer (that's a good excuse right?) and me stopping to refill my water bottles
Mile 10 and 11 - I must be getting a little tired, but that's still pretty good I think
Mile 12 - there was a stop light at either 28th ave or 34th ave, I think I was still on pace
Mile 13 - I refer you to mile 12 only this was the stoplight to cross Cedar Avenue so it took even longer
The rest - who knows, but I was still moving pretty good.

I have a minor mental block about running Lake Nokomis on long runs.  (That mental block usually extends to the marathon, which makes my life interesting.)  I did better with it today by trying to focus on my pace, and by remembering to feed myself once I got over the bridge.

Other things that went right on this run:
Hyrdration - I'm drinking more and more on runs, even "little" 14 milers like this, and it's clearly the right thing to be doing.
Not getting sick - I think the heat and hydration play an important role in this.  Win for me for hydrating correctly and Win for Minnesota for great running weather today.
Nutrition - I tried a new "night before a long run" meal of homemade spring rolls with lots and lots of rice noodles, fake chicken (because it's the protein source I had on hand, real chicken would've been good too) avocado, cilantro and cucumbers.  I felt great on my run today and it probably wasn't all the nutrition, but it couldn't have hurt.  I also had a Luna bar, or most of one, when I woke up this morning.

And then I killed all my awesome work by having KFC for lunch.  Side note: KFC was not at all the place I was expecting to get excellent customer service today, so I was pleasantly surprised by the young man in the drive through who took my order and encouraged me to try "pepsi max" because they didn't have diet pepsi.  What's the difference?

To further prove my lunacy, I totally went to Pilates after work and acted like I hadn't run 14 miles that morning.  Actually, Pilates was just the right thing for getting all the crappy lactic acid out of my legs.  They were stiff all day but they don't hurt at all anymore.

Now I'm sitting on the couch drinking a beer thinking, "I've got one more 20+ miler, this weekend and then I get to taper!" (Every marathoner knows there's a little part of me going "and then no more marathons, ever, you idiot!")  I was thinking of a spring marathon like The Pig so I could find out what fall/winter/spring training is like and if I'll really get sick less when it cools down.  Because like all runners, I'm nuts.