Monday Madness, or my 20 mile run.

Well I ran 20 miles this morning in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon on the 26th of October, That race is only 8 weeks and 6 days away now. Its really difficult to fathom how much prep work I've been putting into the running and the drastic changes in my body over these few months since I seriously started training in May.

My old suits hang loosely from my shoulders, I mean you could almost put an extra person in my old clothes with me. Even my old Class A Army uniform is too big to wear now. I'm getting Large T-Shirts to wear as the extra large ones are now too loose for comfort. I'm wear pants with a 36 inch waist and have room in the waist. The physical differences are overwhelming. I still have a slight stomach, but nothing that overlaps the belt line like before. Still I'm looking forward to the Marathon itself and the finish. So I can relax some of what I've been doing.

Today after completing the 20 mile run I was so physically depleted of energy I had to sit down in the shower. After that I laid down upon my bed and even though I didn't feel like I was asleep an hour went by before I could comfortly move myself. What started as a lark, has become serious and I've a better understanding of what the world class atheletes go through for training. Even on the run today it was more tenacity than anything else which helped me to finish. I don't really understand where that mental toughness came from. Still it was a dogged determination to see todays run through to the end. Regardless of the discomfort I felt.

As for the run itself; I'll try to describe the course. From the driveway of where I live, I turn righ and head towards Main St/Rt218 go down a gradual incline and turn left onto Main St. I follow Main St almost 1/2 half mile with its slight down and up grade nothing of note. Turn Left onto a residential road which starts my uphill climb this route takes me through the southern part of the village of Highland Falls and around the pond at Roe Park. When I get to the far corner of Roe Park the climb becomes distinctly more challenging as its a rather steep pitch uphill to Mearns Ave. Think of a roof with a steep but still walkable pitch. Then on to Mearns, it is a fairly continuous uphill grade but not too onerous and almost flattens out just before I turn left onto Mountain Ave and go uphill some more. At the top of Mountain Ave where it intersects with Stoney Lonesome Road (that goes into West Point) I've covered roughly 2 miles.

From that intersection I have a modest downgrade a slight rise and again a down grade running along us highway 9W to the West Point Golf Course. There I follow the service road around to where I run on NY rt 218 for about 1/10th mile before turning around and heading out NY Rt 293. from the WP Golf course NY Rt 293 is a wide road with very wide shoulders. You could drive 4 tractor trailers side by side on it. Still I've a 1&1/2 mile climb uphill till I reach Fire Station 3 which then allows me to go down hill about 1/2 mile as I run along Long Pond. This too is a slight upgrade but very gradual and not troublesome. then about 1&1/4 miles past the fire station I've a strong down grade whic then delivers me onto a gentle climb again for around 1&1/2 miles to where icrest over a rise the grade has been leading up to and down and up a swall for about 1/2 mile more to where I turn around and start back for home.

So on the return route, I rerun a swall till Istart back down a long gentle grade. At 1&3/4 miles i strat a uphill grind for about 1/3 to almost 1/2 mile then its a gentle down slope to about 1/2 mile before the firestation. Then again a hard climb. When I reach the fire station this second time, I've covered 13&1/2 miles. Generally by this point I need to replenish the water and Gatorade mix I carry in a pack on my back.
So the Fire Station is convient to that end. The water pack hold 2 litres/70 ounces of fluid or just over 1/2 gallon. So for the first 13 miles I usually am OK with water and the drink mix. But I need to replensih it and fill the bladder if I'll be going further. From Fire Station 3 i've a 1&1/2 mile down hill run till I am again on Rt218. From there to Washington Gate on West Point it is mostly flat and a gentle down hill to the Guard Post. From the Guard Post to the fire Station it is gain a strong down hill grade and then the route pretty much flattens out through the central area of West Point. Then it is slow gradual climbs and descents back to home.

From Start to finish I took 4 hours and 14 seconds overall to finish 20 miles. I can subtract 7 minutes and 28 seconds from that for a more accurate time as it took me that long at the fire station to replenish my water carrier. So in honesty I can say I did 20 miles in 3 hour 52 minutes and 22 seconds. Under 4 hours.

So there is a description of my run today. And hopefully you can understand why I had to lay down before noon time today. So with even consuming just over a full gallon of water (at nearly 8 pounds a gallon) I lost 6 pounds of weight. Also saying that I sweat profusely, would be an understatement; for when I am done every item od clothing to even include my running shoes can be wrung out before being put into the wash or laidout to dry.

So there you have it, not a untypical run. The description pretty much cover a few various routes I run and have tied together into a longer course. So if some days my writing doesn't seem too coherrent, maybe its because I'm still recovering from a epic run.

Still this is a longer post for myself and hopefully provides some understanding of the running still without pictures, all you've got is your imagination unless you know the area. So go ahead and use Google Earth and look at West Point and the region. You may be surpised.

Have a good day everone.
Q