23 Miles

This morning we ran 23 miles. I am tired, but had a very good run!

It was cold and rainy this morning, so I donned my new Baltimore 1/2 Marathon UnderArmour
shirt (it's snazzy!) and shorts and, after taking care of the dogs and kitty, left the house not certain I would enjoy the run.

We weren't quite a full group today - 8 Team Tegla-mates were there. Things started as they usually do - we went out faster than we should and basically maintained that along the way. One of our "no-shows" showed up around mile 5. She had overslept, raced to a place near where we run, parked her car and found us along the route. Impressive to say the least - I would have stayed in bed! She had a tough run, but hung in there to the bitter end. That girl has lots of guts.

I was feeling great. Maybe it's my acupuncture. Maybe it was the confidence of the 1/2 marathon. Maybe it was just that it was, with the exception of the rain, perfect running weather. Maybe it was that I ate well and was rested. It might well be all of the above. But whatever it was, it was working for me this morning.

About mile 17 one of our runners began to fade mentally. That's a tough place to check out - with 6 miles to go! The AIDS Marathon Program has a rule that one runner volunteers to be a "designated driver" to make sure another runner having a bad day is cared for along the route. I begrudgingly volunteer almost every week since I sometimes lose steam toward the end - but mostly because nobody else will.

Well, that meant I had to wait for the fellow who went back to bed in his mind. I was hoping I would leave him at a water stop and he even said he would . . . then changed his mind but still wasn't running. This, of course, was VERY FRUSTRATING for me as I was feeling fabulous. In the end, he finally "released" me from my duty (I felt guilty leaving him, but he wasn't SICK, just not interested in running anymore) but by this time Team Tegla was way ahead of me. Even the pace-group behind us was ahead of us!

So I took off to join up with them . . . and ran for a bit with them but was pining away to be with my friends. So when one of their runners started feeling the pain, I was off to catch up with Tegla.

I ran pretty hard for the 3 miles it took to reach them, but I did catch them with 2 miles to go. Oddly enough, I was still feeling good - even running harder those few miles. So I was able to run in with my group. And besides being tired and a little sore, I still feel good.

I am hoping today's run will give me the confidence I need . . . knowing I can run steady and still have something in me late in the run.

And if everything is going my way on marathon day, I will finish strong and happy.