wow!

that's all i can say...wow. if any one ever tells me they CAN'T run, i will have to argue w/ them. LOOK AT ME! if I can do it YOU can! in all seriousness! if your limbs function, if you can put one foot in front of the other, if you can breathe, YOU CAN RUN. you don't have to run a long ways. but people acted amazed when you say you've run x amt of miles. and i'm not even talkin' 10. i haven't told anyone but my fam yet. but "THREE MILES? i can't even run around the block" i do here that a lot. foo-ey!

today promised to be rainy. ugh. i had enuff waterlog last wk's long run for a century. so i wasn't excited about that part. BUT I WAS EXCITED about meeting friends to run w/! none of us are on the exact same page as far as mileage and where we are in our marathon training..and there are a FEW of us not exactly training for the marathon. so we all planned to meet at Richland High and we could run from there. our LOOP included "the shelter belt" this awesome path/trail that has been asphalted in the past few yrs and is even more wonderful to run/walk/bike on! it parallels the highway (240 around Richland) and is called the shelter belt becuz SOMEONE in all their wisdom YEARS ago (cuz i ran it as a teenager...blankety blank yrs ago!) planted a HUGE shelter of trees between the backyards of the houses and the highway. when I ran on it (back in the day) it was a gravelly, dirt-y trail. but it was fine and we used it. it intersects w/ roads leading out to the highway every so often but even w/ those streets, the SHELTER of the shelter belt is WAY comforting,... a nice, sorta soft, easy run. i'm sorry i can't think right now the exact mileage of the shelter belt itself. but if you're ever here, ya gotta run it. the river paths are prob the highest on the favorite scale, but this is gggreat too. i'd guess one length of the belt is prob 3 miles at least.

so, school down Thayer to belt, down belt to Swift, up Swift back to school. that was 3-4 (i'm talking THIS WAS THE PLAN stan) then, we'd get our drinks or whatever and go for another loop for those who's goal was 8; then i'd have to do another 2.

well, for ONE thing some of us rebelled and moved OUR start time to 9 instead of 7 a.m. I know we're wimps...but my dh was OFF today thus i didn't have to be back in a hurry. i had NOTHING planned today except for this run. a few others didn't wanna get up at the crack o' dawn either. well, what with arriving at varying times and having to scout around to find an entrance to the school so we could USE THE FACILITIES, we didn't start out till 930.

it didn't turn out the way we thought. we had one runner who is fighting bronchitis. she just couldn't get a breath. so, in a round about way, running most the loop, then doubling back to try and meet up w/ her husband, then running past him (we were going opposite directions at that point), and keeping on to meet w/ the bronchitis-sufferer again, only to find out she'd SUCKED IT UP and determinedly decided to run the whole double loop (w/ frequent stops to double over and try to cough ETC..poor thing)...so by THAT time i HAD to find the husband again...so far all i'd told him only made him worry and yet he'd never actually run into his wife himself! i can only imagine what he thought of ME! some lunatic who keeps running into him telling him various VARYING stories of his poor suffering wife!

ah me. but i was concerned about her. when i'd first left her, i wondered if she needed a hospital breathing treatment thingey...so i didn't want to NOT do the right thing.

well, when all was said and done and THEY were heading for the car, THEY had at least 8 miles under their belt! at that point i had about 7. when i'd gotten back to the school, i took off the UNDER layer shirt (not my wicking one today..just a cold, wet, cotton tee), off w/ my SA-WEATY hat, stretch, drink, take 2 more ibuprofen (i was hurting a bit), donned the sunglasses, ipod, AND i tried something new: hard candies. i put a rootbeer in my mouth and took off. see, i'd read that folks use like lifesavers..or gummi bears. well, gummis would be better cuz a big hard candy in your mouth is WEIRD. but breathing was fine so off i went. just to get a little glycogen coursing thru my veins (is that the right word?).

so anyway, we parted ways, me w/ a big fat rootbeer candy in my mouth, ipod blaring in my ears...down Thayer an extra mile and 1/2 or so, then back. oh.my.gosh. i'm telling ya: the 1st 1/2 hour was fast, with friends..very nice. we even PRAYED TOGETHER out loud! flew by!

2nd 1/2 hour--alone-- FLEW by. now THAT is unheard of. i mean i look down and the garmin reads 34 minutes; i look down again and it reads 1:03!! whassup w/ that? good anyway.

i don't even know how the last WHOLE hour went. i guess i wasn't really there. all i know is i got to mile 9 and that last mile was KILLER! ugh! what is UP w/ that? i THINK i've figured it out. i was anticipating a good run today. so i didn't have to fight any psych demons today. physically, i felt good (lungs) the whole way. but i think since i've DONE 8 MILES BEFORE, i'm GOOD to 8 miles. anything beyond that is GONNA BE HARD. is this common? i think there's something mental about it being the 'homestretch' and all. like you've given your all, your bod just wants to shut down and go.to.bed.now!

and is my garmin acting up or what? the other day it said my best mile was a 1+minute mile. today it says a 3+ minute mile. well WE ALL KNOW that is wrong-O bon-GO! but here are the stats:

9:30 a.m. nice, clear, bit of a cold breeze, otherwise NICE...sunny prolly 42 degrees
2.00 HOURS (yes, you read that right)
10.01 miles
avg 12.03 min/mi

that's the other thing i just have to comment on quickly....i was TRYING to fartlek (is that the term i use here?) where you POUR IT ON for a certain am't of space, then you slow down to reg pace, then you turn it on again...repeat, etc. well, i was doing that...and i was (in my mind) like, SPRINTING...and i'd look down at my garmin and my min/mi isn't even ever hitting a 9min/mi! whassup w/ that? is it cuz tho i THOUGHT i was sprinting i was just barely moving since i was on mile 9.5???? let me know.

all praise and glory to my heavenly FATHER