Post 20/16 Miler

I'm not gonna lie.... a lot of yesterday was not fun.  As Jessie wrote, she and I ran 20 miles with the other full National/Shamrock Marathoners.  I dreaded running out in Reston on a 'boring' trail but actually it was not that bad.  I just zoned out most of the time and eagerly looked for each .5 mile marker.  

They say before your 20-miler, you should write down and do as close as possible everything you would do for actual race day.  I have established a good Friday night routine of eating a lot of pasta and sleeping early as well as a solid morning routine.  I brought 3-4 packs of gu, filled my water bottle, taped my arch, took ibuprofen (despite I was told last week I would die), body glided myself (every week my body finds a new place to chafe so on race day I will body glide my ENTIRE body), wore clothes I would wear on race day (except the purple jersey and shorts), loosened up my muscles, and generally tried to calm my nerves.  

Before our run, we had some TNT people share Mission Moments and personal stories.  I was humbled and reminded again the amazing cause behind this mission of ours.  Cancer does not discriminate and every mile we run and every cent we raise is rallying to save more people from this enemy.

The actual run was an experience.  Thank goodness for the TNT crew.  All 3 teams came to Reston (DC, VA, and MD teams) so there were plenty of white shirts and neon green visors on the trail encouraging one another.  There were also 3 water stops (thank you water stop people!!) and coaches along the way telling us that we could do it.  Stamina wise, I felt great at the end.  My legs, however, were another story.  It took about 2-3 miles for everything to loosen up.  By mile 12 they were already tired and I hit my first block around mile 13/14.  I then hit my second block around mile 17/18.  By mile 19 I started picking up my pace and on mile 19.5 I just ran.  I wanted to finish so badly but man, those last .5 miles felt forever!  I was too tired at the end to be elated but I was more glad than anything to be welcomed by dozens of teammates who all cheered when I came back.  Thank you everyone (team members, family, friends) for ALL the amazing support.  I'm looking forward to tapering the next few weeks.  I never thought I would be relieved and think "YES. Next week is ONLY TEN MILES!!"  Only 3 weeks till 26.2 will be demolished.  Keep checking up on us as Jessie and I taper and the rest of the crew do their 18-20 mile runs.  Much love.