I had to make other plans for running since it wasn't going to work out this week running with Kathy and Patti... (Late night to the Cards game Friday night).. they were going to go later but after my miserable run in the heat last weekend, I really needed to get out at 6:00 a.m and Kaiden's very first football practice started at 10:00 so I wanted to be done so I could go watch..
Pam Enno and Kim Noonan had organized an 18 mile run starting at 6:00 from Panera.. perfect!! I knew they'd blow me away, but figured as long as I could at least see them in the distance I'd be fine. There were water stops at 3 parks and thought maybe I'd catch them at the parks.. Tim Mu, Carl Benton and a guy also training for Lewis & Clark were also there.
So we started out and sure enough they pulled away around the end of the first mile... all but Carl who had commented he was just out for a easy run and didn't really 'have' to run 18 today.. (I for one can't imagine getting up to run 18 when I didn't 'have' too!!) But that is what makes Carl the runner he is.. anyway he hung back with me and boy was I glad! I figured at the first water stop (Bunn Park) he'd go ahead and run with the other group since we had them in our sights all the way there and would definitely catch them in Bunn, but he ended up staying with me the entire way!! Now how nice is that??? Probably felt sorry for the slow one getting left in the dust!! hahaha.. He was a big help getting me through the 19 and I appreciate it!! Even making sure I drank enough along the way... way more than I usually do, and I think that really helped me today.. sometimes when you're out there into the 'teens' mileage it's too much energy to grab that bottle off the belt, open it , drink and fumble to get it back in the belt, but I learned how important it is yesterday.. and how it helped.. But Carl kept me drinking, even during the last mile!
Saw Jill along the way!! We crossed right in front of her SUV at a side street and she honked and waved.. Hey Jill !
So here we were running through Springfield trying to get 19 in.. went from Panera to Bunn Park up to Lincoln park to Washington Park back to Panera.. Carl and I added on another mile so I could get my 19 in and again, boy was I glad he was there.. I really struggled that last mile or so and he talked me through it.. Thanks Carl!
We definitely took a tour of springfield.. didn't like running on all those sidewalks tho, plus we had more than a few hills to deal with!!! And you can imagine the traffic on Iles from Chatham Rd up to White Oaks drive on a Saturday morning.. stop, wait, go.. stop, wait, go..
When we finally got back to Panera's there were a couple others still there who had just gotten back from a long run they started a little earlier in the morning.. They are all training for Chicago.. so we got a picture of all those who are training for a marathon..
It is soo true how much running is not only a physical thing, but also a mental thing.. like Carl was saying yesterday.. you can either talk yourself down, OR tell yourself you can do it... and for me, how loooong that last mile or so seems.. like the last few long runs.. when I did 15, the 13th and 14th mile were hard.. when I did 17, 13 and 14 were ok, but 16 + was hard.. same with 18 and yesterday with 19, 15-17 were fine.. (well, I wouldn't exactly call them easy) but do-able.. why is that? That the last mile are so are the hardest for me.. definitely all mental with me..
I felt really good and maintained a pretty good pace the whole way until that last mile or so.. very hard!! I had a 10:34 pace for all 19 ..I was extremely happy with that, overall !!
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