The 20 miler Run/Bike/Run version

I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. Thomas A. Edison



So yesterdays 20 miler didn't go as planned. Lou and I meet at our normal spot at our normal time. What I didn't do so normal is what I think did me in at about mile 10. As I was driving to meet Lou I stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got 2 plain bagels and proceeded to devour them in about 5 minutes. The run was starting just 10 minutes later. We started out fine, the first 6 miles went as planned, then the miles started slowing. Slow would have been fine but then around mile 10 I was starting to bonk (I assume it was a bonk - never happened).

Our long runs have been we run about 12 miles and end up at my house to refuel. Then head back to our cars which are parked about 6.5 miles from my house. Yesterdays plan was to be at my house at 13.5 miles so we could refuel and just head back to the cars (no loops to make sure we get the miles in). But I told Lou I was not feeling good so maybe we should get to my house earlier and see how I feel for the rest of the run. Told Lou to go ahead and we would meet at my house. He got to my house with 11.2 miles done and I was at 10.8 done.

At this point I knew if I continued with the run it would be a run walk for me. Now I wouldn't mind but Lou just got a transfer and is now doing MCM with me so I didn't think it was fair to him. So I decided at that point I was going to just jump on my mountain bike and ride with him until he finished. We did this for the next 3-4 miles. Now I start to feel better and I can see he is starting to slow and the expression on his face told me he was in trouble. At this point we are on the bike path that goes through my town Williamstown NJ. So I decide I was going to drop the bike in the woods (hope that it was still there when I came back for it later). Found a spot, dropped the bike, and started running again with Lou. I felt great at this point but he was hurting. Lou had some oral surgery on Thursday so his diet and hydration was not the best the few days leading up to the run.

So for the next 5-6 miles we did some run/walking to get this run over with. Bottom line we didn't have a successful 20 miler. The reason I am not too worried is we had a great 19 miler two weeks ago. So the plan calls for 12 next weekend, 8 miles the next weekend and then the MCM. But I am either going to attempt 20 again this Saturday with Lou (not sure he wants to do it), or jump into the LBI 18 miler on Sunday without Lou.

So I guess I have officially un-retired from blogging.