Week # 8 Day Four Fourteen mile run

10/09/10. This was the 14 miler I was nervous about. I met up with James and Chad at 6am at one of the Trailheads in Boulder City. We started out at a good pace. We were all able to keep a good pace and still be able to talk. The first part of the trail had a lot of downhills. Once we got to the part where it met up with the Railroad tunnel trail Chad told us we were past 3.3 miles. He has his Nike shoe tracker, so at least we had a way to track our mileage this time. I was surprised we had already done 3. I felt pretty good, was able to keep up with them, and hoped the rest of the run went by just as fast. We got to the Railroad tunnels, and right before the 2nd tunnel I tripped on a rock. It felt like it happened in slow motion. I remember running, then I remember hitting the rock, and then I just started falling. I had my arms out like superman, and ended up sliding to a stop on my stomach/chest. I remember using the F word as I fell. I got up, brushed myself off, and discovered I had scraped my right knee up. Also had scrapes on my hands. My hands were burning, and then I looked at my bloody knee and decided to keep on going. Chad told me my fall was at mile 5.3. We kept going through the tunnels. At the end of the last tunnel there is a gate that is closed at night. It was daylight by this time, but it was closed. We had to turn around. On the way back Chad informed us we had gone 7 miles already. Halfway done ! I was still feeling pretty good, my knee was doing ok. We followed the trail back and James had an idea on how to make up the mileage we lost from the gate being closed. We decided to go down the trail towards the campground we started at last week. He told Chad to let him know when it was 9.2 miles and then we would turn around and finish the trail to where we started. We hit 9.2 and turned around. I was still feeling good. We headed back up the trail that we started on. Of course a good portion of it was uphill. Just a steady uphill. Wasnt too bad. Then we had a little bit of a downhill. Chad anounced we had gone 12 miles, then later 13. Then he said we've gone farther than a 1/2 marathon. I was thrilled. Once he said that though my legs were starting to ache. he then said once it hits 14 miles we're stopping. We ended up doing 14.13 miles in 2 hours and 29 minutes. I burned almost 15oo calories, and our pace was 10:33 a mile. It felt good to stop though. Overall I felt much better than last week's long run. I didnt eat breakfast last week, but this week I did and it made a huge difference. Next week's long run is 16 miles.