Random Thoughts about Running 22 Miles

Twenty-two miles is a long way. Three hours and nineteen minutes is a long time to run. If, instead of running, I’d have hopped in my car and headed west, I could have driven to Barstow, stopped for lunch, headed for the outlet stores, gone to the park, and hid from wannabe gang bangers kicked out of L.A. for bad tattoos and finished about the same time as my run did.

I ran the same course I’ve been running—one-mile uphill followed by one mile downhill for about six miles followed by a four-mile slight incline to Sunset Park, followed by four laps around a 1.5 mile paved trail, followed by a stagger home while hoping to get run over by a car so I could be temporarily disabled, which would have made a legitimate excuse for quitting because that’s what I wanted to do at around mile 19.

Now that I look back on the fun, I’m glad I didn’t get run over by an SUV and I’m glad I finished.

Now for the random thoughts:

• I probably started out a little fast, which caused me to tire at around mile 15, which was followed by checking my watch every 45 minutes to discover I’d only gone .07 miles.
• An old lady about the age of my two dead grandmas and about twenty-five years older than my dead dad signaled to me that I was going the wrong way on the track. I was about 12 miles into the run and told her rudely to leave me alone. She did. 
• My lips were scorched from being in the sun for 3.5 hours. 
• By the time I finished it was 85 degrees. That might be the cause of the extreme fatigue I began experiencing at mile 15 or the fatigue could have been caused by the fact I had run 15 miles.
• Chocolate Gu tastes awful. I miscalculated the location of my hidden water bottle and had a nasty Gu chocolate film in my mouth for a couple minutes before I could wash it down. 
• I had to utilize the restroom facilities at about 17.5 miles. It could have gotten ugly, but not as ugly as the fat, completely naked guy giving himself a sponge bath in the very same bathroom I was discharging solid waste. 
• Guys, any suggestions on how to prevent the end of certain appendages from chafing?

This is my last 20-plus-mile run before the marathon. I’ll knock out another 15-miler in 10 days and taper. If you're training for your first marathon and want to see what others think, check out And So It Burns...  It's on the sidebar.  Just click it.  Jose's faster than I am so you might learn more from him, although he doesn't yell at old ladies and walk in on naked fat guys taking sponge baths.