10 Mile Run

I'm a little behind on my blogging, but I can't go without saying that jogging those 10 miles on that awful windy Saturday morning was on of the best days of my life! I have never felt so good in my life... well maybe I have, but you know what I mean! I have NEVER in my life been able to run, much less run a whole 10 miles without stopping (walking)!!!! I thank Maria for pacing me, but I still lagged a good minute behind her and all I could think to make myself feel better was, "remember, you're NOT slower, you are just carrying 55 more pounds than her." As long as I could see her at a close distance, I was okay.... We got to Josh and the boys pretty quickly that we didn't even stop for water... boy was I sorry I didn't take a sip because the next water station was nowhere to be seen!!!! We were thankful when we saw the water fountain! Those posted mileage signs on the side of the path really stink.... I think they calculated wrong! We never saw Tia's 5 miles sign and ran until we hit the "Turn back Earl." Once we hit all that dirt path I kept thinking... are we going the right way??? I didn't see many runners that far and I was just waiting for the path to reach a dead end....actually I was praying that the path would reach a dead end, but it never did! Once we saw the Earl sign Maria and I turned around and started back just to find that the damn wind not only held us back, it had us screaming for more kleenex! It felt good to get back on the path and then....there it was... our 5 miles sign!!!! Then it was back to those mind teasing mileage signs that seemed to be getting further and further apart! I have to say that towards the end I don't know if I would call what we were doing running, jogging or waddling.... I was just glad that I was moving in a way that was NOT walking! I kept telling myself I want to stop and walk the rest of the way... so I started saying, I'll start walking as soon as this song is over... when it was over I felt I could go a bit further, so I would tell myself, okay when THIS song is over... and that's how I managed to get to the end! Maria and I were ecstatic to have jogged the entire ten miles. Since we had gone an extra mile, we walked back a mile which was a great cool down. My shins weren't killing me and I felt great!!!! We went for a hearty breakfast and headed home. This run gave me the confidence I needed for the marathon, I'm just going to miss having Maria as my pacer/running buddy in Vegas! We'll be together in spirit! I just pray that I can do it one more time in Vegas!!!!!!