With “only” 17 weeks to go, it was time for an eighteen mile run. Actually Gilbert’s schedule has us doing a twenty miler on Saturday, but since we’re a solid eight weeks behind the Chicago group, we figured that eighteen was enough. And since we also all had things going on that would interfere with a Saturday run, Thon, Carrie, Amy, Mike and myself met up this morning down at Big Stacy pool. Thon “The Mapmeister” had put together a White-Rock simulation run that looked pretty interesting.

Of course, even at the start I was tired from my exertions yesterday. That, and I didn’t have even a token breakfast since we had a medical exam scheduled for today (stupid insurance requirements) and I was supposed to fast for 6-8 hours beforehand. Still, we all made it to the parking lot and headed out for several hours of shared pain. Er, shared adventure. Whatever.

The first mile of the run had us enjoying the rolling hills of Travis Heights heading North towards Riverside. Once there we turned left and joined up with the trail, where we’d remain for the next sixteen miles (eight out, eight back). We made sure to stop at every waterstop and drink a ton. Even though it was still dark it was plenty hot. Actually it was only 77-80 during our run, but the humidity never dropped below 85% and, combined with my overly warm 5K less than 10 hours earlier, I was pretty miserable.

We averaged a running pace of around 9:30 or so, which is pretty solid for a long run in the middle of August. After five miles we reached the MoPac waterstop and I couldn’t wait to douse myself under the shower. It was warm, but still very much appreciated. I also took a Gu at this point — technically a violation of my fasting, but I figured it wasn’t too bad. I was probably drinking five cups of water at each stop, and needing all of them.

The conversation started out explicit and got worse from there. I don’t know what it is about a running crowd, but when you’re out for three or more hours together, I guess that boundaries get weaker. We laughed, we gasped, we discussed Swedish runners (and no, not the bikini-team kind you’re thinking of). It was weird, it was therapeutic, it was wonderful. Such is life on the long trail.

Amy was wonderful and she’d stashed five bottles of Gatorade (hey, one each) near the I-35 bridge. The only problem was that when we got there, only four remained! Someone had actually taken the time to remove one bottle from the little plastic chain. Weird. At least the others were still there, and still sealed, so we each had about 80% and felt great. This added several minutes to our time as we chatted and walked while drinking, but that’s totally not a problem on a run like today’s.

We came to the bathroom near Longhorn dam and I took 3 salt tablets that Mike was nice enough to provide. Continued on past it for about 1/3 of a mile until the Garmins came to the consensus that we’d done nine, and turned around to go back. The second time we hit the bathroom, I took another Gu. The odd stomach issues that I was having with Vanilla Bean Gu seem to be a thing of the past, which was very welcome news.

From there, getting back to I-35 seemed to take almost no time at all. I was sure missing those Gatorades the second time around, though. We kept going, stopping at a couple of water fountains along the way. By the time we made it past Pfluger we’d spread out a little, with Mike taking the lead, followed by Thon, then Amy, then Carrie and myself bringing up the rear. When we got close she picked it up, or I dropped back, but we all ended up at MoPac anyway.

Since I’d been in the back, and was really beginning to feel the heat (and my sore legs from yesterday), I was about 20 seconds slower than they were leaving the waterstop. I kept that distance pretty constant, but I felt the need to make another couple of water fountain stops that they didn’t, and by the time I got back to RunTex they were ready to leave. This was actually nice, since it freed me of any real constraint to hurry; I went back to the mile-zero shower for a warm refresh before continuing.

That’s when I knew that I was dehydrated and overheating. That warm shower felt ice-cold. Wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but when the park shower standpipe feels cold, you know you’re way too hot. I drank yet more water (the last opportunity to do so, with a bit over two miles left to go) and headed out after the pack.

The final two miles were a bit grueling, but really not that bad. The long slow uphill on Riverside was annoying, but its annoying even at the start of a run so that didn’t bother me too much. The rolling hills for the last mile did get old pretty fast though. I wanted to walk a couple of them but kept slogging it out. I couldn’t go too fast though; when I tried I just felt tired and a little dizzy - yeah, yesterday’s 5K was looking less and less like a smart move on my part.

With about a quarter mile to go I reached the high point, and then it was a fast yet comfortable downhill run to the pool. I got to my car (which had been unlocked this whole time, naturally, with all my stuff in it) and tossed my shoes inside and met up with the others who were already soaking. Boy, did that feel good! Afterwards though I really, really wanted to stop at Starbucks, or Mi Madres, or anywhere, and get some food. After all, I’d just burned through 2,185 calories (and taken in about 400 along the way, between Gu and gatorade), but I was good and restrained myself. Even though I didn’t want to.

So there you have it. Not quite as easy as the 20-22 milers I was doing last year, but for the first serious long run of the season, not too bad. On a regular Saturday when I won’t have done speedwork for 3 days, I think I would have been just fine. And I ran smart and made sure not to hurt myself, even though it took me a few more minutes to stay hydrated and cool. Now all I need to do is relax until Monday. I think I can handle that.

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