A Great Workout, A Great Scare

Time: 105:46
Distance: 17.27
Pace: 6:07
Splits 1st Half: 7:43, 7:18, 6:54, 6:38, 6:47, 6:26, 6:25, 6:20, 6:10, 6:02, :37 (for .10 miles or 6:02 pace)
Splits 2nd Half: 5:30, 5:26, 5:13, 5:14, 5:12, 5:15, 5:18, 1:06 (for .14 miles or 7:55 pace)
3 miles of walking home

I spent Christmas day in Sacramento at my cousin's house where we had a great feast of turkey and all the fixin's. The following morning the stomach was well stretched out and I ate a few pieces of chocolate before what I hoped to be a 20 mile run along the river. I wanted to make the second half of the run a workout type effort so I casually ran out on the river taking my time and letting my body adjust. I didn't have any Gu or water with me so I had to be patient the first half so I wouldn't bomb the second. I was feeling very relaxed by 5 miles and remained calm until the 10 mile mark. I was surprised at how accurate the mile markers were along the river and it just so happened that Mr. Garmin was about .10 behind when I linked up to the path.

I turned at the 19 mile mark along the trails and geared up for an up tempo pace. I was hoping to hit 5:30s to 5:40s at the start and then drop things down from there with perhaps some 5:20s tossed in. I was going to run hard for the 8.5 miles back to the entrance and then run easy 1.5 miles back to the house. On the journey out I noticed that my left hip was a little tight, but I didn't think much of it because it wasn't that sore and I figured it was a result of me not stretching much the past week. This would come into play huge time at 17 miles.

I was a bit shocked when I saw Mr. Garmin read off 5:30 for my first mile. I held the effort constant and clicked off 5:25. I was certain that I was going to slow down but I relaxed and remained focused. I was nearly in disbelief when I saw 5:13 for the next mile. There was no way I was running that fast on this day, but not only was Mr. Garmin giving me splits but so was the bike path which was marked. I figured things were going to fall off soon, but then I rattled off 5:14, 5:12 and 5:15. These splits were completely preposterous and they certainly couldn't be maintained but I was feeling great and just let them come. Somewhere around 16.5 miles my left hip started getting really tight and I was having a difficult time striding through completely. I made it to 17 miles and was forced to slow a touch with 5:18 before calling it a day. I tried running after stretching the hip and it just wasn't going to happen. The pain was a combination of charlie-horse and stiffness that I just couldn't get rid of. I ended hobbling back to the house not wanting to aggravate things any further. I was happy to have run so fast but pissed that my left was about to fall off. I still have mixed emotions about this workout because it tells me I'm fit but that I'm also incredibly vulnerable right now. I managed to run/jog/skip the final mile once the pain relaxed.