"don't stop, get it get it"

Heh. At about mile 9.2 we saw one of the cheerleader runners and that's what she said to us: "don't stop, get it get it!" She was so right and I so needed to hear that at the time!

Yep, so I totally ran 10 miles today. Not 9.99 or 10.1, but 10 miles. I told Susan there was no.way. I could go anymore than 10. and we didn't!

I woke up this morning and was totally nervous. Freaking out about 10 miles. I ate a 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and banana to give me a little extra fuel with a glass of water. I was thirsty when I woke up so I really wanted a second glass of water but decided that might make my tummy upset once we started running. Good call.

It seemed to me like we started REALLY slow. I almost thought we were going too slow but once we turned the corner and were headed downhill and broke up the packs a little, we were good to go.

There was a little confusion around mile 3 about which direction to go. Honestly, making decisions like that WHEN we are running makes me crazy! The thing of it is, MOST of us know our ways around the parks by now and so what if we add a few miles on in places that our coach didn't technically tell us to? I know we all have to be safe and all that jazz, but by 8:00 in the morning, in the most visited park in the area, I doubt we have much to worry about. AND, most of the smaller groups that are running together have Garmins so it's not like we don't know our mileage and can adjust accordingly. Right? So, I just told them where we should go and we did. No biggie.

After that, we GUed at around 3.6(?) and then all the sudden we were at 7.25. I have no idea where the miles went but they did. It was awesome!! I highly recommend finding a friend that you can talk nonstop to on these long runs. It is great for taking your mind off of what you are doing (RUNNING 10 FREAKING MILES!).

I'm worried I was too bossy when we got to 7.25 miles and I hope Susan will tell me if I was. ;) We were at the nature center and she asked if we needed to go to the bathroom or get water? And I said "NO!".. Of course, I explained to her that she could go if she wanted but I felt like the only reason she wanted to go was because it was there. Maybe I'm totally wrong on that but going up that huge hill to the nature center, going potty and then running again just seemed like too much. We only had 3 miles left! What is 3 miles when you've gone 7?

So, I got her past there without stopping. We just kept on moving. We decided that it might be nice to run out far enough so that we wouldn't have to run the massive hill up past the park, the nature center, the golf course, etc.. that we could end at the bottom of the huge hill if we were at 10 and then walk the rest of the way to the car. We said "take a leisurely stroll to the car", which is exactly what we did!

We ran the greenway out to 8.5 miles, turned around but STILL had to go up the huge hill to the nature center. But it was okay. At the bottom of the hill we were at 9.97. and then finally, we were at 10. And we stopped. Stopped. Stopped.

I tried to refill our water bottles (but the water was ICKY) while I waited and then we took our leisurely stroll up the hill.

Our 10 mile time was 1:52:26 which is faster than any of our previous long runs!! Yeah!

It felt great. I loved it but I'm exhausted tonight. My feet hurt, my shins are bugging me a little.

During the run, my back was hurting as were the balls of my feet. I hope it's not my new socks I bought! My legs were tired but other than that, my breathing was fine most of the time (minus the few hills we had on the course) and it was an all around good run. Tough, but good.

Glad it's over. Mama's going to bed.