12 miles!

Yesterday was the peak of my training for this year's Flying Pig Marathon, with a 12 mile morning run. Instead of just running together as a group, as we do every Saturday, we joined an event sponsored by one of the running stores and several local businesses, including P&G. The event is called 20/12, as those who are running the whole marathon had to run 20 miles this weekend, and those that are running the half had to run 12. The event consisted of well marked 20 and 12 mile routes, water along the way, and a food and some activities at the end. 

When I woke up I seriously considered not going, as I could hear the wind blowing and I knew it would be cold. But I got up and went to meet the other girls I was carpooling with.  The weather was miserable. It was cold, and windy, and we even had flurries coming down on us. If I had been there by myself, maybe I would have just turned around. The run was tough, as there were some steep and some long hills, and I really struggled after mile 8. I took a couple of quick walking breaks, and by 10.5 miles I was seriously considering to just walk the rest of the way. But then I felt somebody patting my back and telling me "You can do it. Keep going". When I turned around I saw it was one of the girls from our running group. I thought she might run by my side the rest of the way, but she stayed back. I couldn't tell if it was because she was also tired, or because she was purposely staying back there to check on me and make sure I made it the rest of the way. Either way, I didn't want to let her and me down. So I pushed for it and ran the rest of the way, including the very last short but steep hill. Physically and mentally it was definitely one of the toughest runs I've had in a while.