Twelve glorious miles

Me, Tracy and Sara right after finishing our first 12 miles.
My friend Jen is not in the pic because she was too fast
and was already in the shower!

After my painfully slow Clove Run, the next long run I did was just as bad. It was hot and humid and I could not keep up. Our group split up and Sara stuck with me to finish our 10 miles. While I knew I could finish the half marathon I began to seriously doubt whether or not I would do it with my friends by my side. I didn't want to slow them down.

And then last weekend we all got up early and ran at 6 am on a Saturday. The air was brisk and dry, there was no humidity, no glaring sun, nothing to dehydrate me even more.

It was glorious.

There were times when I slowed down a bit and I even walked when I ate my Clif Shot Bloks. But I was able to catch back up each time. I was able to put on some speed during the middle and end of the run. When I reached the 10 mile mark it was a full 10 minutes faster than I had done the Clove Run. I was ecstatic. We continued and I hit 12 miles at 2:05. I finally felt like I did before I hurt my feet, before I started having kidney stone problems. I desperately needed this run.

The weather definitely helped. I ate a banana before I left and I haven't been eating anything so that could have helped too. I also did something shocking... I wore my old Mizuno shoes. My minimalist soul died a little, but I figured that while I'm battling this tendinitis (because really, it's not going to go away until after the half when I stop stressing my feet out so much) my feet could use a little extra support. I apologized to my Dash Gloves, laced up the Mizunos, and hoped I wouldn't immediately fall into heel striking the entire time. I think that the shoes worked for me. It gave me that extra stability that my feet need right now. I wore my Dash Gloves for a 4 mile run yesterday and was absolutely fine too. So I think I'll be able to keep them for shorter runs and just use the Mizunos for the long ones until I get this half done.

I am supposed to do another long run this weekend but I will be going away with the Princess and her Girl Scout troop. So instead I will have to get up wicked early Friday morning and run before school and then do a stroller run during preschool. I won't be able to get 12, but between the two maybe I can get 8-10 and hopefully that'll be enough. After that is just one more double digit run and then I start the taper!