I ran my first 15 miler yesterday!!! It was awesome!!! I felt really good before, during and after it!!! Finished it in under 3 hours, approximately, 2 hours and 55 mins.
The day was one of the better days we have had for the last 3-4 weekends!! It was cool, not cold, not too humid, and almost the sun was not at its harshest!! We also started reasonably early (20 mins earlier than we usually do) at 7:30 a.m.
I started off slowly, along with my running buddy Vivek. We had decided to do a slower and more consistent pace, since both of us ABSOLUTELY wanted to complete the 15 miles without walking even a bit! We generally have water-stops at 0 mile, 2 mile and 5 mile marks, so we wanted to run 5 miles to, 5 miles back, then 2.5 miles to, and 2.5 back! So plenty of water stops!!
The first 10 miles were smooth, and easy. Having run 12 or more for the last 4 sundays, 10 felt easy.....No body-aches, no pains nothing! Miles 11 and 12 got a little tougher. But we were still running at a reasonable 11-11.5 min/mile pace.
Miles 13 14 and 15 were what the marathon is all about. Being tough mentally!! Pushing yourself to keep going, keeping away all thoughts of stopping.......not giving up!!! It was just telling myself that "I will".....for 3 miles!!!!!:)
I actually ended up running the last mile faster than 11.5, mebbe I did the last mile in 10.5 minutes........
Felt really good after the run!!!
Its now 2 sundays with 12 miles, till I reach the next milestone of 18 miles, 21 days from now!! Looking forward to that!!:)
Apart from that, I got my first donation on Friday, from a colleague at work, Pardhiva. Thanks to him for kick-starting my fund-raising!!!
Weekly Mileage update
