Sunday, August 09, 2009

Lived to tell the tale

Fortunately morning dawned with overcast skies, so the stifling air was somewhat bearable when we set out for our 30K (18.6mi) run. The 94% humidity, however, was suffocating. The air was thick and damp and I was glad to have decided to bring my hydration backpack with its 2L bladder. I was thirsty the entire time! I also took my eload zone caps along the way.

A significant portion of our run was along trails, which kept things interesting. We also had a water stop (with oranges too - my fave!) at 21K/13mi, which helped break the run into two more manageable parts.

It went well for the most part, although I was suffering with the humidity. I was just grateful for the thick cloud cover, because we would have been absolutely melting had it been a sunny day.

I lost my group at one point when I had to make a detour for an emergency pitstop (with a case of the lindsays), so I was on my own for the last 8K or so. It was a struggle and the run was pretty slow overall, but I made it.

30.0K (18.6mi)
3:08:54
6:17/KM (10:07/mi)



It's been a long time since a freezing cold bath has felt so good.

And this concludes another weekly mileage milestone - 76 KM (47.2mi). No wonder I'm so exhausted!

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought of you today as I ran my16k, thinking OMG.... she's doing double this!!!

Stephaniekaye from WB

RunningLaur said...

You're amazing!!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

IMPRESSIVE!!! Way to fight through. I have no clue waht 94% humidity feels like?

Natalie D said...

Great job!!! :)

Erika said...

Wow! I did a measly five miles today on the treadmill 'cause I just couldn't stand the heat.

You are seriously tough!

MCM Mama

Road Warrior said...

47 miles this week? Un-freakin-believable, Marlene. You're a rock star!

Unknown said...

AWESOME!!!!!!!

No Longer Using said...

oh my gosh, priceless picture. CONGRATS!!!!! quite the undertaking, especially finishing solo. although i think it's important to do hard runs solo sometimes. we just have to tough it out and it makes us strong!!!! HOLY MOLY WEEKLY MILEAGE!!!!! great work!

A Toronto girl out West said...

You're a brave amazing girl!!!! Crazy mileage! Not to mention in such hot weather - my mom was on the phone with me going on and on about how hot it was in Toronto. And there you are running in the stuff! :o)

Carly said...

Nice job getting it done! As far as I am concerned there is nothing worse than running in humid conditions.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Awesome job on the icky, sticky, humid 30k!! Impressive mileage for the week too! Wow!!

joyRuN said...

Whew - 47.2 miles in a week - very impressive!

That last pic is hilarious :D

Mark said...

Marlene, that's a great run!!! Hilarious picture!

Melanie Tait said...

Marlene you are THE BOMB! 94% humidity! That's insane and also what we've got to look forward to in about a month and a half. Thanks for the advice on the saddle pack. I don't think there's any other way for we Darwin runners. 30kms in 94 per cent humidity. YOu're amazing.

Unknown said...

Impressive!! Well done, lady!

B.o.B. said...

Congrats girl! Keep on keepin' on. You rock!

sneakersister said...

Congratulations!!! That sounds so hard. You were smart to bring along water, that probably helped you more than you know. That kind of humidity can be brutal and you were able to hydrate whenever you needed to.

I love that photo!! That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Lily on the Road said...

good job girl, and look at you in your photo, skinny minnie!! Is this torture (I mean training) for the Waterfront???

Heather said...

Great job . . . humidity is the worst! That pic is hilarious.

Jen Feeny said...

Good job pushing thru! Love the pic! LOL! Congrats on the mileage milestone! Holy crap!!!

Marky Mark said...

That's not slow at all-about 10 minutes faster than my MSNR 30K race last year in fact, when we had similar STWM full marathon finish times--you are clearly much faster this year-the training is paying off.

Marci said...

LOL at that picture, very fitting for the weather yesterday!! Good job knocking out your 30, and really, quite fast for the temp yesterday!

Anonymous said...

haha, love the pic! Your times and weekly mileage are awesome!

Anonymous said...

ha that pic is awesome!! Good thing you brought the backpack water, very smart! I think i could handle that more than a fuel belt.

congrats on another race!! :)

Denise said...

Yea!! You did it!! Congrats!!

cath said...

love the pic! I guess we've all been there...

Julia said...

Congrats on your 30K! that pretty much pure awesomeness my friend :)
and your photo pretty much is worth a thousand words ;)

J said...

OMG I cant imagine running in that humidity! It was hot when i was in Florida and i was dripping all the time while running! I only did 4 miles so I cant imagine what would happen after 18 miles!! Great job! Get some rest!

X-Country2 said...

Great pic! Ha. I can't imagine running that far in that kind of humidity. Blech.

yumke said...

Congrats, not easy to complete runs like this...

ShirleyPerly said...

Wow, sounds like Florida!! Even staying hydrated, know it's tough to run in those conditions. Congrats on getting your run done!

Runner Leana said...

Wow, that is definitely a warm day for a 30K run!! Nice job! Glad to hear the hydration packed worked well. I'm pretty fond of my Camelbak too.

Patrick said...

Love the pic-- and congrats on a great run!

ALso-- a great week-- 47.2 miles!! Thats great.

Lindsay said...

you survived! :) nice job on the 30k!! love the pic with the water-iv going on, lol. i looove ice baths in the summer. so much easier to handle.

and thanksss for the shoutout. in case the whole internet hadn't heard about my #2 extravaganza yet! ;) haha

I Run for Fun said...

Woo hoo! You are on fire! Awesome run.

Anonymous said...

Awesome job! I can't even imagine running that far (although I did sign up for a marathon, so I guess I'm gonna have to!) Great recovery strategy too.

Aron said...

lol at the case of the lindsays :) awesome job!!!! love that pic!

nice job on the weekly mileage too!!

Unknown said...

Amazing week! LOL at the case of the Lindsays:) Is it hard to run with the camelback? I've thought about trying it but never have.