Redefining the dry run
There was plenty of adversity during our dry run for the marathon, including a massive stumbling block we put in our own way.
For our race-day simulation, the dry run, I stole a page out of my buddy Steve's book. Kayla and I had SVM online editor Angel Sierra drop us off at the starting line of our 20-mile route, and from there we were to run home.
The idea was, no matter how hard it was, no matter how much our bodies screamed "Stop," the only way home was to run there.
Our plan was flawed and, frankly, I'm glad that was the case.
Angel did such a thorough job in filming it for the attached video that, when we ran out of water and our bodies started failing at the 15-mile mark, he was off in the distance shooting. He wasn't a mirage. He was our ride home. We put our egos aside, knowing we'd risk injury if we made our dastardly dehydrated bodies continue. We called it a day.
We were behind the 8-ball before we dried up.
Nearly the entire first half the route was into 25-mile-per-hour wind. The majority of it was uphill. It was muggy, and the ol' 20-degree rule made it feel like 95 degrees.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. But we plowed along. In fact, we were moving at Kayla's target clip for the marathon on May 5. Then we ran out of water. Just a couple of miles later, our bodies were shot and incapable of finishing the last five miles.
Such a crippling oversight. But we have to forgive ourselves and move forward. It would've been great to crush the 20-miler. But, instead, it's time to taper so our bodies are prepared for the big kahuna. Our longest training run will end up being our 18-miler two weeks ago.
It is what it is - really the only misstep we've had during our training program. We've logged nearly 400 miles over 14 weeks, all being told.
And the good news is during the marathon, we won't be in charge of the water. There'll be a station every few miles. We won't have the opportunity to mess it up.
Enjoy that embedded video Angel put together. That guy's really good. And tell us how your training's going. Stay strong.