Chinese uphill

I was ill equipped for this long run. The snow on Saturday meant no long run at Old Angler's Inn, so we went to the Line. I headed out with Dave, Klim, Karl, Sloane, Towpath Murphy and we met up with Jake Marren along the way. My fatigue was managable for a while, but after about nine miles it started to affect me. Here was the mix of failings:

• Rest- I went to a friend's birthday party pretty late on Saturday night, and didn't sleep too comfortably.
  
• Nutrition- I didn't eat much after 8 pm Saturday, though I managed to have a banana, an orange and a few bites of an Odwalla bar when I woke up. It still wasn't enough.
  
• Hydration- I had a few glasses of water, but had no water bottle for the metro ride to Rossyln to meet Dave.
  
• Clothing- I wore a new pair of astro pants. In my other pairs, the ankles have some elastic, which keeps them tight and prevents flapping. this pair did not have elastic, and the amount of flapping constantly worked the zippers lose on the backs of the legs, and I worried that the seems would tear, so I seemed to have to stop every few minutes to close the zippers and that left me behind everyone else
  
• Digestion- It just wasn't happening. Two bathrooms along the route did help.

By 10 miles I had dropped back, thanks to another pant-zipping fiasco, and was pretty far behind everyone else. By mile 11 and 12, I was depleted, and my stride had shortened significantly. It was not fun, but it gave me some mental preparation for suffering and the impetus to further examine why the run had gone sour and how many of the variables were under my control.

With the additional running before in the parking lot and the weaving we did on trails, I figure the distance at a short 14 miles, in 1:40.

Then, I ordered too much food when I was hungry at Einstein Bros. and had an egg and turkey sausage sandwich AND a pizza bagel, the latter of which was delicious but had a bit of garlic. The turkey sausage has ceased to be good. I also drank Powerade too fast and felt bloated the rest of the day.