Quick Update

I did it. I ran the 18 miles. My wonderful hubby stayed home and held down the fort this morning. My wonderful friend got up and loaded her boys into her jog stroller and ran the first 5 miles with me to help me get my bearings since I've never run where we did today. She was also kind enough to let me borrow her headphones since i forgot mine (along with a few other things). The weather was perfect and I absolutely loved where we ran. It was MUCH more hilly than where I've been running and so I felt tired much earlier than usual, but it gave me a bit more confidence for race day. At 7.5 miles I turned my ankle, fell and skinned my knee pretty badly at the entrance to a trail, so I got up and ran back the other way :) around mile 16 my calves and hamstrings started cramping up. I decided to see what happened if I ignored it and thought about something else- it worked! Every time I thought about it they would hurt worse than before. This is the part I am most concerned with in regards to the race. Other than the fall I ran the entire thing which was amazing to me considering I've had to walk at least once during the past two long runs. By the  time I was closing in on 18 I was close enough to the car that I decided I could stop at 18 instead of continuing to run. Tonight I wish I had just gone the extra mile. I prayed for most of the run and tried to blank out the rest. I almost stopped running and went home when I fell, at mile 9 I considered leaving again, wanted to stop at 15 but then realized there were "only 3 miles left". It's funny how the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation's "Never Give Up" meant so much to me today when I finally came to a seriously painfull stop. If I had given up when I got injured the first, second, third-ok, you get it, time, or if I decided three weeks of missed runs was too hard to come back from this late in the training period, if that terrible 12 mile run that was mostly walking had scared me off, if I went home after I fell today, if at any point I had given up (and it would have been a well deserved surrender) I would never have felt what I got to feel today. It wasn't the time I always planned to have, but I was so proud to do it in 3 hours and 20 minutes. I was proud of me. I'm never proud of myself, especially when I fall short of whatever high expectations I've set that make it nearly impossible to achieve. Other than my road rashed knee I actually feel better than I did after 15 last week. I'm so looking forward to joining the rest of Team Callie in Richmond in less than 3 weeks!