Ten miles – DONE.

Done, done, done.  Love saying that.  Love the way it rolls off the tongue, how it feels in my mouth as I say it, how it feels in my legs (that “good hurt” thing, yeah right), how it feels in my lungs.  That’s a good feeling.

It doesn’t feel “good” when I’m running, necessarily.  Sometimes that “good hurt” is missing the “good” part.  Sometimes slogging through ten more steps feels like a step too far.  Sometimes it’s not a nice feeling to be alone on the sidewalk, no one in sight, no cars passing – less peaceful, more lonely.  It occurred to me this morning that I will need some strategies for that as I keep going toward the marathon.

Speaking of which… according to the newsletter, registration for the 2013 Portland Marathon opens today. I am so excited!!!  BUT – the website hasn’t been updated, no matter how many (dozens of) times I refresh the page.  Bah.  But maybe waiting will have its advantages.  I am toying with the idea of using my marathon training as a fundraising vehicle for a small non-profit I like… sort of like the “Team in Training” model, but not quite… obviously I need to do more research.  That’s in progress.  (But, yeesh, couldn’t I at least see the fees???  There are budgets to plan, people!)

The run itself – it was a tough one to get done.  I think I psyched myself out a bit – ten miles! All by myself! Oh my!  The Math Teacher is off for the holiday weekend, but I still kept our usual starting time.  It was chilly starting out, not quite 50 degrees, and being tired I decided to keep my jacket on.  I started out by reversing my usual route, so that lovely mile-long downhill-to-Starbucks that I usually finish with was my opening mile uphill.  Before that first mile was done, my jacket was tied around my waist, my Nuun bottles were leaking and splattering down my legs, and my belt pack was trying to ride up past my navel.  GAH.  Thank heavens it was 6:30 in the morning, far fewer people heard me muttering bad things at all of it.

I short-cut the loop slightly so I could get back to the car as quickly as possible, so when I dropped all that crap gear back in the car I was shy of 4.5 miles.  (Oh, but so worth it – the sheer lightness of running with just a Gu and a car key in my fanny pocket…)  As I started back out the “normal” way, some of the running groups were out.  It’s fun to watch organized groups – or even the less-organized gaggles – running together.  I was never much of an athlete, and seeing the camaraderie of the team is inspiring.  Had to add a bit to the return route to make my ten, but managed to correctly do the math in my head and hit the target spot-on – even before coffee!

Smartest move of the day – bringing dry clothes and compression socks to change into at the coffee shop.  I’d arranged to meet a friend for coffee at the end of the run, and it was so nice to sit comfortably.

Not quite the same run recap I usually do – here’s the splits, for the heck of it…  Kinda all over the place, huh.  Something else to work in the next phase.

 

I’m ready to get on with it.  I’m ready to start tapering and get to the start line.  Antsy, even.