18 Miler and Tailgate Recap

So I've been a bit MIA since my 18 miler on Friday.  I've just been very very busy :)

The 18 miler went FABULOUSLY!!  I left the house in the pitch black of 5:30am and ran a bit over 4 miles  of a new route to Rebecca's house.  Once I met up with her, I turned my brain off and let her take the lead.  The next 6 miles flew by and we kept rolling along.  We took short walk breaks here and there to fuel and hydrate, but overall things felt great!  (I've confirmed that I LOVE Jelly Belly Sport Beans)

Mile	Time	Calories
1	12:37	118
2	13:16	100
3	12:37	121
4	12:48	120
5	11:53	132
6	12:52	111
7	12:43	117
8	13:59	107
9	12:38	121
10	14:53	112
11	12:32	126
12	13:25	116
13	12:47	116
14	16:13	111
15	13:56	117
16	13:02	119
17	13:11	118
18	12:49	112
19	:33	4
18.04mi	3:58:46	2,098

Holy Crap - I burned more calories than some people eat in a day!  Not me of course, but someone I'm sure!  Just after mile 11, we headed back around my neighborhood and finished up the run around there.  It had been raining in MI all week so we were thrilled that it didn't rain until mile 17!  At that point, it felt great and I welcomed the cooling effect.

We parted ways for Rebecca to get her 12 in and me to finish my 18 and I finished strong!  I still felt great when I got home and short of a bit of an abrasion on my left shoulder from my (brand new) hydration pack and another abrasion on my left thigh from my IT band support thingy, I felt great!

Saturday was our annual Michigan Football Tailgate and we rocked it out!  We has 75 of our closest friends come party with us on the golf course before our first night game against Notre Dame.  Complete with grills, HD TV, gallons of Bloody Mary mix and pounds of bbq pulled pork, we set the bar really high for next year!

(I'm to the right of #16 in the center in my yellow shirt, with my husband the silly looking one to the right of me with the towel on his shoulder).  I even got to rock out my new running skirt and dri fit Michigan shirt - LOVED them!  The tailgate was the most fun ever and I am actually looking forward to next year. 

I was too lazy/hungover/lazy/fat/bloated to run on Sunday and sleep-deprived on Monday, that I didn't run again until my group on Tuesday night.  BAD IDEA.  Won't do that again.  While I had no pain during the run on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, my left hamstring was KILLING ME on Tuesday night.  It was so tight, it felt like it was going to burst out in a charlie horse any second.

From the left it's my running buddy Amanda, who is also running the Detroit Full, me and then Liz, who is running the Detroit half.  The other guys are in our group and much faster than we are.

I stretched it out and just kept running.  It felt better at the end, but I did stop in the running store this morning to get a thigh compression sleeve.  Now, I've never bought one of these before and holy crap, I was SWEATING like a pig trying them all on.  Thank goodness I went into the dressing room to do so - the first one was more like a calf sleeve - it didn't even get past my knee.  It took me a good 20 mins to find the right one, but now after wearing it all day, it feels much better.  We'll see how it does in the morning for my 6 miler :) 

After this week passes, I should be more calm at work and get back on a regular running and blogging routine!  Thanks for sticking with me :)