Dear 9, you're the WORST.

I ran 9 miles yesterday. Well, ran is a relative term, I suppose. I ran/walked 9 miles. The heat was such in Baltimore (around 90* with 40% humidity when I started, even at 6:20 pm) that I had to stop frequently to walk/drink water so that I wouldn't overheat. And yet I still found that I wasn't sweating about 3.5 miles into the run - which is not a good sign. So I walked more, drank more water, and found some shade until I could feel myself cooling off and feel the sweat coming back. I really didn't want to get sick so I was being extra careful.

I had a few desperate moments during this run. The heat combined with the humidity combined with the fact that I was running further than I have in over...jeez, 8 months? It wasn't pretty. Then I misjudged a tree branch and slammed my head into it...uncool. I then discovered a large bump on my head during my post-run shower last night. Doubly uncool. So I definitely had a few of those "OhMyGodWhatAmIDoingWhyDidIThinkICouldRunAMarathonIShouldStopRunningImmediately!" moments. And when they happened, I walked, and I said to myself "You're just panicking. You'll feel better as soon as your heart rate comes back down. So stop freaking out." And I reminded myself that those moments are the REASON you do long runs during your training - because you need to get the freakout moments out of the way during the months you're training so that you DO NOT have them on the race course (or, if you do, you're well aware of how you should self-soothe and keep on truckin').

I ate 4 of these:

Clif Shot Bloks are basically candy that you get to eat while running to make the fact that you're running 9 miles in 90* heat more bearable. Seriously - tropical punch flavor? LOVE YOU. Anyway, they have caffeine and other glorious things that make you feel better pretty quickly after ingesting them while running.

I also bought one of these and wore it yesterday for the first time:

My comments:

• It was very convenient to be able to put my keys, ID, cash (any number of reasons I could have needed that...bottle of water from hobo on the street, cab ride home when I spontaneously quit running), and Shot Bloks in the little pocket on the back.
• The water bottles bounce around A LOT when they are full. Less so after you've had a few sips.
• You need to sip evenly from the two bottles otherwise it will start twisting around your body.
• Maybe - just MAYBE - you should look at the fact that these things have SIZES before you buy yours, and not just grab the only pink one on display and gleefully run to the cash register with it. That's how I ended up with a size Large, when I probably needed a Small (I'm not trying to brag, it's just that with the incorrect size, the velcro doesn't overlap as much as it should, meaning a less secure fit and more bouncing. The last thing I need is more bouncing).

Other things:

I ran in 3" compression shorts last night. If you don't know what these are, they're basically like those little bun-huggers that volleyball players wear. I was trying to wear as little clothing as possible again, in order to not overheat, but I'm pretty sure it's a bit of a faux pas to run in 3" compression shorts. I'm pretty sure people were looking at me and saying "Is that girl even wearing pants?" but maybe they were saying "We should get her a bottle of water." Whatever, I do what I want.

People say that to get used to running in the heat you should RUN IN THE HEAT. And that your body will adjust over time. They're all lying. It's not working.

I had bought dinner for myself at Whole Foods earlier in the day but when I got home, even the idea of BOILING WATER was too much for me (I was going to make black bean/goat cheese ravioli, yum) so I microwaved my leftover mac & cheese from Saturday night's dinner. And it made me sick. But I am still blaming the heat for my getting sick. Mac & cheese never does anything wrong.

The thing is - what I really learned last night is - that I need to cut the shit. I've been messing around with this training. I haven't been cross training, I haven't been stretching like I should, I haven't been taking my nutrition all that seriously. And maybe you can get away with that bullshit when you're training for a half, but you can't when you're training for a full. My longest-mileage week when training for a half was 20 miles -- two 5 mile runs during the week and one 10 mile run on the weekend - and that was MONTHS into training (two weeks prior to race day). This past week I ran 16 miles - during week 3 of marathon training. I was supposed to run 19 but I skipped one of my runs because I think I need to cut down to 3 runs/week instead of 4. This week, there are 21 miles on the schedule. Passing my highest mileage week ever - only 4 weeks into this training schedule.

Shit's about to get real.