20

Today is the first day of our vacation. I was scheduled to run my first 20 miler today, but there was no way I was doing it so far from home so I got it out of the way on Thursday. It was a very busy week..it always is right before you're going away, isn't it? The kids had dentist & orthodontist appointments. I had my annual physical. Plus, I was trying to cram 2 weeks of work into 2 days. My uncle died so I had a wake & funeral to attend..the list goes on & on..

But, nothing was going to stop me from getting this run done. I was fortunate enough to have Linda & Alyson volunteer to run portions of it with me. I did 2.5 miles out and back (4 times). So, every 5 miles I would pass by where I parked. I knew from when I did the 17 mile run that I was running 5 miles in just under an hour so that made it easy to time when they should get there.

Here's how it worked out. I did the first 5 miles by myself. I started at 7:40 a.m. Linda met me and ran the next 5 with me. Then, Alyson & her son, Conor showed up when I hit 10 miles. The 4 of us were off and running miles 10-15 . Linda turned back around 12 because her foot was bothering her, but we eventually met back up with her for the last mile.

I meant to put on body glide at the 10 mile mark, but forgot (big mistake). It wasn't until the 3 of us were running for about a mile that I felt the chaffing begin. Same place as last time - thighs. I asked Conor if he minded biking back to the car and getting the body glide for me. Thank goodness for him otherwise I woud've really been hurting even worse than I am.

Linda left when we hit 15 miles. We used the bathrooms and I filled up my handheld bottle with Gatorade. I even had 1/4 of my PB & J sandwich. I was eating Sharkies along the way, too. I was feeling really good. Alyson, Conor & I were off to finish the last 5. Alyson has been having problems with her hip so I wasn't sure she'd be able to run the whole 10 miles with me..she came pretty close. She did 9. something..just under 10. She was with me when I finished though and that was the best part. She did a good job of keeping the conversation going at the end and I needed that.

When I stopped running, I shouted "thank you, Jesus." And, I meant it! I was really glad to have Alyson there with me. My brain felt like absolute mush those last few miles. I couldn't even think of anything to think about. It was kinda weird. I wanted to focus on something, but it was like my brain was turned off. It made me wonder what I'll do running a whole marathon completely by myself. I know I can wear an iPod for some of it, but that gets old after awhile, too. I'll have to come up with something..

I have to mention that I texted my husband when I stopped at 15 miles. He was at work of course. I just wrote "15 done." He wrote "keep going." By the time he sent that I was at 17.5 so I replied "17.5..don't reply..i'll text you when i'm done." As I was basking in the glory of finishing 20 miles, in pulls a truck and Alyson says, "hey that looks like Larry's truck." Sure enough, it was him. He wanted to be there when I finished. Isn't that sweet? I thought that was really nice. I was running on a path very close to his work and it was lunchtime. I never expected him to be there, but was really touched that he was. I could never do any of this without his support.

So, all in all I have to say the run went just about as well as it could have although my knee was really hurting afterward. Not sure what that's all about. I think it was just tired, not really injured. I went home and took my first ever ice bath which was not fun at all, but I do believe it helped tremendously. My muscles really didn't feel sore at all. When I did the 17, I was pretty tight and sore for a few days. My legs feel so much better this time and I think it's from the ice bath. Plus, we were in the car for 8+ hours yesterday and even that didn't bother me.

Today is Saturday and I'm on vacation. I'm not going to run today. I think I need a few days of rest..I might do 3 tomorrow. We'll see.

Today I'm only doing one thing...going to the beach :)