My 5 AM 9 Mile Run

Dark enough at 5 a.m. for the street light to be on

I did it!  I set my alarm for 5:02 a.m., jumped out of bed before I lost motivation, and laced up for a run.  I did a lot of walking, then running, then walking for the entire 9 miles.  It wasn’t really that much fun.  The whole time I’m looking at my clock thinking “I have to be back for breakfast WHEN?!”

But I did it – I got out of bed at a time normally reserved for people on their way to the airport, and I went outside and ran, and I didn’t let myself turn around until I was 4.5 miles away from home.  (This is how I know running makes you stupid… at mile 4.18 I looked down at my watch and I remember thinking, “half of nine is what… half of nine is what?”)

It felt pretty hardcore to be leaving my house at 5:15 in the morning, after downing a chocolate goo I stole from Greg’s stash.  (Too bad I couldn’t find one of the ones with caffeine in them… should have checked his gym bag.)  When I left, the sun wasn’t quite up and so the street lights were still on.

Half a mile in, I was seriously questioning my decision making abilities.  A police car drove by me with his window down, and I’m thinking, “Where are you going?!  Stop and talk to me so I can walk for a minute!!!  It’s not even five thirty in the morning and I’m outside RUNNING!  HOW IS THIS NOT SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR?!?!”  Yeah, he didn’t even blink.

At mile two, I drank half of the tiny glass bottle of water I was carrying (a re-purposed tonic water bottle – very suspicious) and stowed it in some grass on the side of the road for my return.  6 miles to go.  I fully expected that losing the weight and unbalanced awkwardness of that tiny glass bottle was going to make me go so much faster.  This was simply not true.

At mile 4.5, I stopped to walk for a bit and take another goo.  I figured I could use the energy boost since I normally have breakfast before I run, and I hadn’t had a large dinner the night before.  Unfortunately, this made me REALLY thirsty.  I got so delusional that I could have sworn I saw “Water” and “9” written on the road.  “Yes!” I’m thinking.  “WATER!!! WATER!!!! NINE MILES!!! AHHH!!!!  WATER!!!”  Clearly I was just seeing things.  I mean, it wasn’t even 6:30 a.m. at that point and I was half asleep and dehydrated.

(ok so it was really there)

By the time I reached mile 6.5, all I could think of was those few sips of water I’d stashed at mile 7.

“The fire in my throat wasn’t the same as before.  I wasn’t only on fire, but I was now parched, too.  Dry as bone.  So thirsty.  Burning fire, and burning thirst… Also bad news: The fire inside my heart got hotter.  How was that possible?” Bella, in Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Myers

Huh, I didn’t know Stephanie Myers was a runner.  But she’s got to be, because when Bella turns vampire and awakens with a burning thirst, she sounds JUST like how I felt this morning on my run.  Except I had no urge to run down other humans and consume them, because a) that involves more running and b) I really just wanted water.

Low points: 

  • Realizing how slow I go when you factor in my walking breaks. (See my previous post about not lying to my Garmin)
  • Seeing that it took me 1 hour and 44 minutes to run 9 miles, when on Sunday Greg is going to run 13.1 in less.  Hating myself for even thinking about that.
  • Forgetting that the sun was going to come up and I might need sunglasses heading back east towards my house
  • Realizing that you can get up at five a.m. and run nine miles before breakfast and still feel disappointed with yourself for not doing better.  (That’s INSANE.  Stop that.  Just harness it and run better next time.)
Irish eggs Benedict for breakfast.  (I’m a health nut.)

High points:

  • Other bikers and runners are likely to wave at you when you’re out at five thirty in the morning, even if you’re running slow… you know, the type that usually doesn’t take time to wave at you normally.
  • I made it to my water, and I made it home, all 9 miles.
  • An hour and forty five minutes of quiet (left my ipod at home)
  • Shower.
  • Coffee.
  • Breakfast.
  • Having my long run done and the full day still ahead of me
  • Greg getting up with the kids while I was gone – by 9 a.m. I’d had two cups of coffee but changed NO diapers!  Awesome.

Overall – I think I’m doing great.  I’ve gotten the reality check I need to start eliminating those walking breaks and building up endurance for race day in September, and I’m getting out there and completing the distance.  Next week’s 9 mile run?  I’m going to finish it in under 1:40:00.  Wish me luck 🙂

Greg races to eat in time to leave for work – always a time crunch!

Dear coffee, I love you.  -kelly
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9 comments

  1. Congratulations! That’s such an accomplishment! Keep up the good work- you’re such an inspiration to me, since you came from the couch to 5k program!

    1. Thanks Caroline! I’m excited to see if I can do it faster next week. Keeping my Garmin running has been such a great wakeup call in terms of figuring out just how long it’ll take me to run that half marathon in September if I don’t keep working hard! I’m jealous of you because I miss the sense of accomplishment of the Couch to 5k program… it took less time!!!!

  2. Congrats on the 9 mile run! You are awesome! I am not even close to running this far. Next week I start HM training! I will check on you while I am training as you are way ahead!

    1. Thanks Ivayla! I should totally post my half marathon training plan on here. It’s changed and evolved a little since I started, but I’m about halfway through and for the most part it’s been working for me. I follow the general advice of adding a mile to my long run every other week. Are you following a specific training plan or making your own? I’ll keep checking your blog for your progress too!

  3. This is inspirational to me as well. I just went out to the trail where my first 5K is going to be next Saturday and ran 3 miles without stopping. Unfortunately, my tracking device on my phone stopped at one point so I don’t know my average pace. I am certain however, that I ran 3 miles because the phone stopped after I had run 1.5 miles and I was heading back to my car. I am lying on my couch now feeling pretty pumped about next weekend. It’s the 2nd Annual Dog Days of Summer in Wolfeboro, NH and I now have to sign up for another one to keep the motivation going. Thanks Kelly. Good luck with your half marathon. Very inspirational. Eileen

    1. That’s great Eileen, sounds like you’re totally prepared for your race! What a smart idea to head out and run the course. It’ll give you that added confidence for your first race. Hope you have cooler weather and a great run! Let us know how it goes!

  4. Eileen, what tracking app do you use? I run on a paved Greenway but it seems to be missing some signs. As I go through couch to 5k with a goal of a 5k in the near future I would like to at least cover the 3.1 every time I’m out if I’m walking the rest after the normal session.

  5. Hilarious post!!

    I recently had a police officer closely watch me when I was running by the high school. I just wanted to turn around and say, “I’m not ditching!!”

    I prefer to run on my days off, but after tomorrow I’m working 6 straight days in a row. I have a 9-mile run coming up and I had been planning to run after work, but after reading this, maybe I’ll wake up 2 hours early and run before work….

    1. Too funny!

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