What an incredible day!
Today was wonderful. It was cool and mostly overcast, which is great running weather. Last night I had such a hard time falling asleep. I kept thinking about how I had to run 12 miles the next morning and worried that my knee might give out again or that I wouldn’t be able to finish the run. I dreamt about running most of the night. I also had a lot of other wacky dreams.
And then, I overslept. I woke up nine minutes before Willow would be here to pick me up. It was a really good thing that I set all my things out last night. I ran though the house eating cereal and dressing simultaneously. I put in my contacts while she was driving to the park and taped my knees during the Pace Group Leader’s meeting. And then…I ran. 12 wonderful miles! It was fantastic.
When I saw the marker “Mile 12” I felt like I could easily have run five more. I felt strong, my knee didn’t hurt, the sun was breaking through the clouds. It was marvelous. At the end of my run, following tradition, Willow and I stood in the ocean for ten minutes to “ice” our knees.
In the icy waters, we recapped our day’s run and shared the cheers and songs our minds devised to entertain us on our route. I made up a cheer that after sharing with Shaun, our Site Coordinator who gives us wonderful cheers each week, I will be doing for the entire site. I made it up somewhere around mile 7 and shared it with my team. They ran 18 miles today and said that in the last two they used it several times to keep them going. I thought when I shared it with Shaun he would share it with others – but now I guess I’ll be doing it at 8 am in front of everyone.
Today I was running with the Jack Fosters, so here’s my cheer:
When I say Fosters, you say Wow!
Fosters!
Wow!
Fosters!
Wow!
When I say running, you say Now!
Running!
Now!
Running!
Now!
Each team can replace Fosters with the name of their team or simply “Runners”. Willow’s was much better. In her head today, she rewrote Aretha Franklin’s Natural Woman to “You make me feel like a Marathon Runner, Runner!” She actually synched up every verse to match our training. I know Shaun will be doing that one soon!
This evening I went for a three mile walk to flush out any lactic acid in my legs. While I felt like I had hardly lactic acids I also doubted that I had any brain cells as I’d clearly used all my body’s sugar for my legs. I doubt I had any decision making and certainly no critical thinking skills to call upon. Nonetheless, I felt like I could walk for hours.
Next week we’re running 10 miles, then 16 the following Saturday. This week I logged 25 miles, 19 running 6 walking. I can’t believe we’re in the hundreds of miles logged. It’s crazy! And so much fun!
Enjoying my new shoes…the last pair pasted the 300 mile mark and are now for causal use only.