Let me tell ya about 20 miles...

This morning I ran 20 miles, or as I like to call it, 2 miles 10 times

Kat, Nevie and I met at the starting line at 6:45. Gary, our coach was there to offer sunscreen, lip balm, extra gu and extra water, but mostly he just wanted to encourage us and take our breakfast taco order. The rest of the team, which is dwindling in number, ran their 20 miles on Saturday in driving rain. Nevie and Kat and I had somewhere to be on Saturday morning, so we planned our run on Sunday instead.

We set out on the trail for lap 1 around Town Lake, from Mopac, past 35 over the Longhorn dam bridge and back, then out again in the other direction. Lap 1 was great. We met back at our meeting place, the parking lot of Gary's office, got some water, stretched bit and headed right back out, for miles 11-20.

At mile 13, I felt fabulous for the first half mile, then my left leg felt stiff, unsteady. My right leg overcompensated and between the two of them, somehow I made it through mile 13 and into mile 14. A quick planned minute walk break and I ran again. No problems in miles 15 or 16. All during that two mile jaunt I was thinking of how great it was going to be at mile 17. Why? I don't know...I like odd numbers, and 17 miles is just 3 miles short of 20, so I knew no matter what I could go three more miles.

At one point, there was danger...a little dog ran right in front of me while it's owner whined 'come here binky'. I was running friggin 20 miles and a little dog was about to stop my pace and possibly send me to the pavement. I glared at the owner and said in my tough girl voice, "he needs to get out of the way." The dog picked up on it all and scurried away.

There were other dangers on the path. The people with ipods are often worse than dogs. These folks stay in the middle of the path, walk with their little beat going and often cause near accidents. When you politely say, "excuse me" or "on your left", they don't even hear you cause their listening to their custom "walk mix".
I love the sounds of the trail. There are ducks and swans diving in the water and squirrels and snatches of conversations and the sound of one's feet on all the different surfaces, dirt, bridges, gravel, sidewalk and today, mud puddles left from Saturday's rain.

I got to mile 17 and felt great... just like I thought I would. I knew I was close, really close...and I love this one little section of trail that goes right by the water on a dirt path and it's shady and quiet. I like knowing what's up ahead and looking forward to getting to my favorite spots.

At mile 19, I think I got a little taste of runner's high. I felt smooth and carefree and a bit light headed. I was in a zone, I was going to run 20 miles, I could feel it.

We got to 19.5 miles and I got a little teary eyed. Kat had run up ahead after mile 10, and now she was running back to run us the rest of the way in. I looked back at Nevie, she was holding strong. We just had a little ways to go and the worst part of it is running past these apartment buildings right before the end that seem to go on forever. They were in site. I pushed on, slowed a bit, Nevie was just behind me and I was going to cross the line with her. We ran in side by side.

I was teary and emotional. I felt strong and proud of all three of us. I never thought I'd run 20 miles. I've done a lot of things I never thought I'd do, this is different and I'm not even sure why. I want to figure that out in the weeks to come.

Gary had o.j., breakfast tacos, bananas and sweet rolls waiting for us. We divided up the goods, did a few group hugs and headed for home. I took an icy bath. Painful. It worked, though.

This afternoon Annalise and I went to see Urinetown, the Musical. I almost always cry at the end of live performances, so I guess it was just a teary, tiring, happy day all around.



file under: running