A celebration of a run

Yesterday was my last long training run before my half marathon in 2 weeks. It's a holiday weekend and the weather has been awefully rainy and wet here, so most of the HF group did not show up to run - including my two friends. I figured I could use this to my advantage and try to see how hard I could push myself. I started at the front of the yellow group (9:00 to 10:00 min/mile pace) and was feeling pretty good with a 9:38 pace. The head coach for the yellow group, whom I'd never officially met before, was on pace with me, so we talked for a few of the first 5 miles. It made the time fly by and helped me get up the huge overpass on TC Jester. One huge overpass like that really makes me wonder how I'll survive in San Francisco for my full marathon. I mean, I can handle one, but multiple?!?

Our first water stop was at mile 5, where I also took my first (and only) GU. By the way, my friends have been talking up the GU brand, so I decided to try one - I had the Jet Blackberry that was utterly disgusting. I will not be trying that one again, but my friends rave about the chocolate, so I guess I'll still have to try that one. For the next 3 miles I ran with a guy that is training for his first race ever, which will be a full marathon. I applaud his courage from never even running a 5K to training for a marathon! At mile 8 or so, we had our second water stop and I caught up with the coach from before.  She kept me going until the 3rd water stop at mile 10.5. I didn't want to stop long there because I was afraid I wouldn't want to keep going. I pulled ahead of the group and started the last trek in by myself. It was pretty tough, still laden with small hills and uneven surfaces. I finally stopped to walk at mile 12, trying to convince myself just to pick up my feet and run the last mile in. Two ladies training for the half gave me the motivation that I needed with thier sweet words. I managed to sprint it the rest of the way in. 13 miles complete!

I had planned to celebrate with a bottle of champagne that I had at the house, but I forgot about the World Cup games. Instead, I met Hubby and some friends at a bar as soon as I'd showered for a breakfast buffet and some celebratory beers. I chose a wonderful Lousiana beer to start the day:

A yummy Andygator from Abita brewery.

Happy 4th Everyone!