The 18 miler.

A little bit more about the eighteen miler:

I'm still in shock that I ran so much of it by myself and that I had the gumption to get out there and get it done.  It seemed so daunting on Thursday night, that I tossed and turned all night long.  My mind couldn't let go of the time that I needed to get up so that it would all work out.  I think back to my former self, prior to Michael and Nicholas, and I can honestly say that there is no way I would followed through with the plan.  I would have come up with a bunch of excuses and made it a difficult, complex plan.  I guess that's what motherhood does to you.  You either suck it up and come up with an organized, well thought out plan; or you do nothing.

I ran the first eight miles by myself and then a friend jumped in for a little over an hour.  Her company really helped the second hour of running go by quickly.  We did our usual chit-chatting and enjoyed catching up from the week's events.  As we were finishing up our leg together, we were actually chased by A PIT BULL.  How crazy is that?  Thankfully, we were on a main road.  We truly had a guardian angel with us because as soon as the dog got closer, a car came upon the situation and chased the dog off by blowing his horn.  He then blocked the road so that the dog would not come after us again.  I had my can of mace, but still!  Very, very scary.

The last half an hour was a little tough.  I felt tired for maybe the last fifteen minutes and I could tell that my body was starting to slow down quite a bit.  Those moments always make me question the marathon.  I couldn't help but think-  there's still 8.2 miles to go in a marathon.  I do know that the 20 miler will help those feelings of exhaustion AND the energy in a marathon is enough to carry you through many tough miles.

This week things are a bit easier.  The long run is only eight miles- piece of cake by now, right?  And, there's an extra rest day built in somewhere, even though rest days really drive me crazy.