half marathon down.

I am about 10 weeks away from the marathon and I am so anxious to get out there! I know I am going to have a blast and will be with some great people. This past Saturday I ran a little over a half marathon distance (13.5 miles), which is huge to me at this point in time. It felt great and I actually ran more than I ran 11.5 miles. I didn't have my typical running partners, but found a new one, Bess. She was great to keep me entertained and my mind off of things. I also found a new love of energy gels. It's amazing how well they work and you seriously don't believe it til you try them. I felt a little achy in my muscles and before I knew it, I was running full speed ahead!

I got to about mile 8 and I ran out of gel so I was going to try the Powerade Bar that we got at our nutrition meeting. I took several small bites and managed to get them down, even though it was quite gritty and chewing while running is hard enough. So in an attempt to get my hands free, I took a big bite and continued to chew and chew and chew.  I thought I would try and get it down with a little bit of water... remember I just said running and chewing was hard enough, now I am trying to attempt to drink too?! It didn't go so well. I ended up choking a little bit and it all ended up going up into my nose. I felt like I was swimming and got chlorine in my nose! I coughed and coughed. Thankfully it didn't slow me down too much, but I will have to remember not to try that again!

Those 13.5 miles definitely kicked my butt though. I could barely walk on Saturday because of my hip flexor was sore and tight. I've been slowly recovering the past couple of days and slept in a little this morning in an attempt to rest all that I can. Between keeping up with my dad working last week and the run on Saturday, I need a vacation! There is a big difference between running 10 miles and 13 miles and how my body responds. I just hope that my body at some point catches up and gets much stronger, cause if the pain double with the mileage, it's going  to be a long road ahead! But it's definitely not going to stop me!

On a sad note... unfortunately dealing with this type of cause, there is more than likely going to be a sad note. The mother of one of my teammates, Stephanie Young, passed away on July 29. Virginia Carnes had been battling Leukemia for a long time and it came down to that there wasn't anything else they could do. So please, please, keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. I know this is a difficult time for them. Here is Stephanie's page if you are interested...  http://pages.teamintraining.org/sc/nikesf08/syoung