Holy Moly chuck a rolly! I knew Becca wanted to run 20 miles earlier in the week, but as the week drew on I kept trying to think of ways and reasons to back out of it - well, at least 3 or 4 miles of it. However, when push came to shove I just did it. I had a really rough day (emotionally) Friday and baby was up nearly every hour all night and I must've subconsciously decided I wasn't going early in the morning, but Becca has Adam to thank (he IS the best running partner) for waking me just 3 minutes past the time my alarm was supposed to go off (I hadn't turned it on) so that I could get up and out the door. We met at 6:30 at the Olympic oval and decided it was time to get dizzy! Since I had given Maurine her counter back and not bought my own, I devised another creative counting system :) 11 pennies: 11 laps = 3 miles. So, we spent the next three hours passing pennies back and forth. I would pass to her 11 times (having a 2 man system helped if one of us forgot to pass) then she would pass them back (my hands still smell like dirty change!). Sixty-six laps later I was done...not sure I really wanted to do the last two miles, but it was only two...I could do it! During the run, my R hip and L knee started telling me they weren't all that happy - running so many miles on a one way track will do that to you. So, we turned and were polite about it, but ran against traffic to 'unwind'. BLAH! There was some guy yelling at us each time we passed about the fact it was "against rule #7 to run the wrong way!" We finally felt guilty enough for breaking the rules that we turned and went the right way. Well, after crazy guy left (there were other runners that said "he yelled at us too!") we again ran against traffic again and it felt SO good! Then, we began to have a following - many others joined our 'wrong way' crowd. It was nice to be the trend-setter. I took and needed TWO gu's this run (mile 9 and 15). I think more than anything I'm just mentally exhausted. My HR was fine and so was my breathing, but at what I think was about an 8:50ish AP my legs just wanted to die and I wanted to quit. I really just wasn't in 'the groove' this run. Each time I took a gu it helped rejuvenate me a little bit. Well, the last 2 miles (I was SO happy to drop 4 pennies at the bleachers and only take 7 with me!!) Steve Ash and Tim joined us. It was nice to meet Steve and chat a bit (I again got to complain about 'barbie' gym - I'm a great whiner!) and he was kind enough to run slow with me and Becca and Tim took off and finished about 20 seconds or so before Steve and I did. Honestly, those last 2 miles went SO much faster than I thought they would. Becca literally had to PUSH me to get me going those last miles. Now that it is all said and done with I'm glad I did it and that I didn't wimp out and take a smaller mileage total. Becca was doing SO well, I wouldn't be surprised if she ran a few more after I left :) I am VERY grateful I had Becca to drag me out this morning and to push me through the 11 cent run, I needed it today - oh so very badly! Thank You Becca! I also had a great time chatting with Steve, made me feel a lot better about my sad slow mileage - Thanks Steve!!
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