Looking for the wall

My long runs are getting longer, right about the point where you start hitting "the wall". For those who haven't experienced it, the wall is when you eat your glucose stores down to empty and start burning fat and muscle for energy. It's your body's way of saying "I hate you."

The winning time for the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase last Saturday was 1:52. That's 16 miles, with 3,000 feet of up, then down, on single-track trails, at a 7:00 minute per mile pace. I have to guess the guy who won (he is from NC) is an alien. If he isn't, and we are visited by aliens, I hope they find him first. That should scare the aliens a bit.

I went out this morning and ran 17 miles, then walked 3 more. I have to trick myself to avoid getting lazy. If I ran by the house at 12 miles, I would tend to stop and call it a day. So at mile 12.5, I was 7.5 miles from home, all uphill. My brain stills notices that the free buses are driving by and would be a nice alternative.

It was a decent run, but I felt tired the whole time and was dead at 17. I am hoping that this is because I had a tough speed workout on Wednesday and a tough hill climb workout on Friday. It this isn't it, I am in trouble for my marathon. The good news is that I only have one more really long training run before the marathon.

Now for one of the things that just amuses me: You read about the health recommendation of getting 8 cups of beverage per day. They say most people don't get enough. My morning

• Get up and weigh myself
• Drink 8 oz of water
• Drink 16 oz of coffee
• Eat a big bowl of oatmeal
  
• Start running
• Drink 20 oz bottle of gatorade
• Drink another 20 oz bottle of gatorade
• Refill water bottle and drink 20 oz of water
• Finish running and drink 32 oz of gatorade and eat a cliff bar
  
• Get home and drink 12 oz of diet coke and eat lunch
• Weigh myself

At 2:30 in the afternoon, I have had 16 cups of beverage and still lost 3 pounds of water weight. Even harder to believe that the temperatures never got above 65.

The next big test for me is another half marathon race on Saturday. It's a tough one with the first 7 miles heading uphill.