Who would'a thought?

If someone told me in 5th grade when I tried out for the cross country team that 18 years later I'd actually enjoy running long distances, I would have laughed in their face and said "mm yeah ok buddy". I still remember that first XC practice wondering how the hell I was supposed to run as far as the coach wanted me to run. I was a swimmer and not a runner in any way. Luckily I faked some sort of knee issue, didn't finish the practice, and never went back again. hahah!

Fast forward 15 years, and I was training for my first marathon, the Walt Disney World Marathon. At first I was signed up for the half, and really just in order to "check it off" my life list of doing something close to a marathon. My co-worker Zach talked me into signing up for the full... I was dreading it but thought hey I can do this. I can remember running that first marathon, and pretty much wanting to kill myself during the entire second half. My sister hopped in and ran the last like 8 miles with me, and she was trying to motivate me and keep me positive, and all I could do was yell at her to be quiet. I didn't want to hear anything, I didn't want to do anything but stop running and be done! I crossed that finish line and told my entire fan base (aka my family) that I would never do another marathon again.

Who would'a thought I'd be signed up for two in one year, with my third one coming up in two weeks/!?! I honestly never ever thought I'd be running more than one marathon, or that I'd ever actually enjoy running! It's crazy how things work.

This past weekend was my final long run before the Marine Corps Marathon which is in two weeks. I got in 20 miles, and shockingly felt pretty great during most of it. I headed up to Baltimore to get in the distance with the running festival. I only really knew downtown Bmore, and it was nice to run all around the city and see parts of it I had never seen. It was a bit hillier than I expected but it was actually really fun. Who knew Bmore had a zoo!?!? I didn't! There were two pretty lakes we ran around too. I went faster than I had expected to go, and was able to keep a pretty steady pace, until the last two miles which were uphill, and at that point I was just ready to be done. BSpence came and picked me up at mile 20 and brought me back to my car, and he was a total life saver. Without him my whole plan would not have worked. Thanks b!

here is a photo of the 20 mile portion of the course, around one of the lakes, right when I finished:

 Somehow, some way, I was able to keep an average of 9:22 for the 20 miles, and finished at 3:01 something. My last two miles were well over 10 min miles ha! And the rest ranged between high and low 8s with one or two low 9s in there. How did I do that? I'm not sure, but I'll take it. Plus it was hilly! I was happy with how it went, and if I can keep that up (minus the last two miles), I can go around a 4 hr marathon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I will be super pumped if I can do this, since I was injured for Big Sur, and have crammed my training for MCM into 6 weeks.

Post run I shoved my face (what's new) with pumpkin chocolate chip bars I made on Friday night, mainly to give B for driving me around bmore after I was done.  CFox & I were supposed to have a bake night Sat night, but instead I did a mini bake sesh Fri night - sorry CFox! I promise in the coming weeks we'll bake. So Sat night, we grabbed some pizza and had a ladies night, complete with girl talk and cute movie. It was just what I needed after a long day of running. I also got in a good walk with CJ at the park. The weather was gorgeous - oh how I love fall!

Today was another gorgeous day... I had a flag football game and scored two TDs!! Woohooo!! It was perfect weather for some outdoor fun. After that, I met up with friends & roomies to watch the Birds Skins game and thank goodness my boys won! E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!! My legs are only starting to hurt from the run yesterday, and I'm hoping with some stretching the pain will go away soon. I'm feelin good for the race, and looking forward to being done with running for a lil while :)

two weeks to go!  let's do this!