7 miles...7 miles...7 miles

Up at 5;40 ish this a.m. to run 7 miles. We're on our way. This little marathon team, all beginners, except for our coach, Gary "Special Effects Wizard" Walker, who has run 1 marathon before is on the way.
A cold, brisk morning, deceptively Texan. One moment, you feel a warm undercurrent breeze, then it's followed by a brisk, chilly, bone cooling blast.
It's good to run soon and to run fast.
We did our 7 miles at an average pace of 11:15 minutes per mile. Pretty darn good I think for a bunch of filmmakers of all ages with various former bad health habits.
My 7 miles went something like this:
Mile 1: I'm getting my pace, talking myself back into this marathon "thing". This is when I have to "choose" to run. I focus on anything but the fact that it's cold, it's early and I have far to go before I'm warm, fed and fully caffeinated.
Mile 2: I'm feeling solid now, found my pace, I'm warm.
Mile 3: I'm putting one foot in front of the other, chatting a bit, feeling good.
Mile 4: Only 3 more miles...I can do this. I tried some of the runner's goop that Steve gave me for my birthday, Mocha Mocha flavor (with Caffeine). I shared it with my running buddies. We agreed it tasted like chocolate icing.
Mile 5: Rolling along now, steady steady.
Mile 6: I can see our destination,just need to cross the bridge and run down the hill.
Mile 7: Back at the start. I feel great. This moment is worth the hard parts of the run.