Oh 16 miles, you were tough

Another milestone reached, 16 miles in the bank. I wish I could say it was better than prior runs, but it wasn't. I would go so far to say it was the crappiest. Mistakes were made... Firstly I ate Indian food for dinner last night. Bad one. Secondly I tried a new breakfast, bagel and peanut butter. Fail. Thirdly, I forgot to take a Gu at the first water stop and by mile 9.5 I had hit a wall. Ugh.

Also, I like to run early... Team In Training runs don't start until 7:30 AM, just not early enough. I got up at 6, ate breakfast, and went down to MIT to start running at about 6:50 or so. This way I already ran 3.75 miles for the day... there was a bit of a wait for the official run to get going (about 20 minutes) which may have not helped me too much either. On the other hand I got some running in when it wasn't so hot, humid and crazy sunny out.

Why was this so awful?
It was hot, humid and crazy sunny. I've been spoiled this season, I admit it. I have grown used to the mild weather. In my defense I did run in Vegas last week and it was fine... ! It must have been the "dry heat." Humidity sucks (see prior post).
I had to take a pit stop at work, but THANK GOD for work.
I walked three times (at least) which is highly unusual at this point.
I was paranoid that I was over hydrating because I was going to town at every water stop.

You would think that the very-flat-runner-heaven of the Charles River would be the best run I could have, but I've done much better on my trail/road runs at the beach, the hilly Newton route, and my random not flat Northampton 12 miler in July. Admittedly I did miss one run while I was in Las Vegas on vacation (for a wedding! fun!), and some cross-training, so this may have also been a factor. On the other hand I didn't miss my 10 mile long run (running the strip at 6am is pretty awesome!), and there was a lot of activity and walking to be had on vacation.

Ah well, as long as I behave myself from now on I think I should be OK. I'm somewhat relived to get the inevitable "bad run" over with!