20 extremely wet & warm miles in January...

We met Wayne P. & Traci B. about 6:15am at the Concord Y & took off towards the Maryland Farms Y.  About a mile into our 20 miler, it started to sprinkle rain & continued getting heavier. There were times where it was actually hard to see. (I should've run with a hat but I detest running in hats.). Anyway, it rained & sprinkled & poured more rain & sprinkled, etc...  I think we had maybe a mile & a half where it wasn't raining.  LOL!  We ended up doing a few more hills than I really intended to do, too, but oh well...I'm a whiner today about everything with this run.

The temperature was 66 per my phone but we had a little breeze early on that helped.  I honestly felt good until about mile 15. I was trying to eat my organic energy waffle, hydrate properly, & get all my Gus in per my eating schedule & it helped tremendously.  In this heat my tummy started feeling like crap by mile 15, though, & it shows in my pace.  Ugh! When we finished, I couldn't wait to get the taste of Gatorade out of my mouth.  Why am I training with Gatorade? That's what they're offering on the course in in Nola. I prefer powerade or nuun but you really need to train with what's being served on the course.  Joe is carrying a fuel belt but if its warm, we will likely use up all that's in our bottles.  I don't have tummy issues with this when its cold.  So, overall given the weather I'm ok with this pace but it took a toll on me.  I couldn't wait to take ibuprophen & get in an ice bath.  This is the first time I've really needed an ice bath during this training.  In fact I will probably do another one tomorrow.  LOL!  Ugh, it is what it is.... Far from a negative split & no strong miles at the end but its done.  I pray it's not like this on race day.

9:09 pace-3:02:53 (fastest 20 miler I've ever done on a not-so-flat course)

Mile 1: 9:14
Mile 2: 8:24 (rain starts up & I get too fast)
Mile 3: 8:41
Mile 4: 9:03 (first of several hills)
Mile 5: 8:49
Mile 6: 8:45
Mile 7: 8:48
Mile 8: 8:54
Mile 9: 9:06 (ugh, heavy rain & a huge hill)
Mile 10: 9:01
Mile 11: 9:27 (ditching belt in car & eating waffle cookies)
Mile 12: 8:58
Mile 13: 9:34 (still eating & running up a hill, really?!)
Mile 14: 9:04
Mile 15: 9:09 (tummy felt blah)
Mile 16: 9:22 (thinking I might need a bathroom)
Mile 17: 9:36 (dodging mud for like the 3rd time)
Mile 18: 9:40 (where's the bathroom? Why won't it stop raining for just 5 minutes?)
Mile 19: 9:59 (ugh!)
Mile 20: 9:21 (thank God my tummy stopped being angry & I'm done! I never went to the bathroom.)

My shoes have newspaper stuck in them.  I may have to take a hair dryer to them & my compression socks have mud splattered on them.  I looked like a drowned rat when we walked into Mamas Javas for breakfast with the run club. LOL!