Fifteen Miles - WOW!

FIFTEEN MILES!!! And I did it! And actually, except for the first 2 and the last 2, it really wasn't that bad.

The weather was nice. The sun never really came out, altho it sure wanted to. And it wasn't raining. Temps were pleasant. Cool at times, especially around the lake, but it felt nice.

I was cramping up in the beginning of the run. But eventually it all worked out. I bought a knee brace last night at Dick's and it seemed to do the trick with the bad knee. No pain at all other than the initial cramping. The first 7 miles or so I ran a 6/2 interval. It was ok. Made it to the Shell station which is halfway. Yea for that. Water and gel break. Someone was driving down Germantown Road and said "Go Team!" out the car window. (I had my TNT shirt on). Nice encouragement there.

Then the next 5 miles I just slowed my pace down a bit and only had to stop two times. Wow. Can you believe that? That really worked for me. I just trotted along and enjoyed the scenery and listened to my tunes. And it was really ok. And to think I went that whole way only stopping twice. OK, I really stopped three times, but the last time, it was to pet a dog, so that really doesn't count....It was a retired racing greyhound named Link. (He was kind of orange and black stripey looking - good Tiger karma there.) I told his owner I wasn't very greyhoundy today and he said "Let Link be your inspiration." Nice.

Made it back to the parking lot and the other RNRs were there. They were done. I had 3 more miles to go. Then some of the CMMs showed up. They were also done. They had just completed 20 miles. Whatever.... The little pitstop was very much needed, but it also gave my knees time to stiffen up. It was quite a bit harder to get rolling again for those last 3 miles. My 'good' knee was screaming, so I switched the brace to that knee.

The Multiple Sclerosis Walk was kicking off just as we headed to the last 3 miles on the Chickasaw Trail. That was their route too, so we planned to go the opposite way to meet them on the path rather than go along with them in the same direction. But first we had to wait for the National Anthem. "...and the home of the brave." Off we go.

At about mile 13, an elderly lady was coming toward me. She must have felt real sorry for me (can't imagine what I looked like) because she clapped and said "Good job. Go! You're doing great." I got teary with that encouragement.

Then we started seeing all the walkers coming toward us. All that people watching definitely helped pass the time and distance. I was thinking that all these people are walking to support a cure for this debilitating disease. And, even though I was truding along, I was trudging along. I can run (or whatever you want to call it.) - and I'm thankful for that.

Lots of Tiger shirts at the Farm today. I greeted them all with a breathless "Go Tigers!".

Almost finished, I'm whining. George said we had less than 1/4 of a mile to go and if I wasn't in complete agony, to push through it and finish. OK....

I made it back to the Visitor's Center and there were 3 CMM coaches there. They cheered. I got a little teary. I had done it. FIFTEEN MILES. I am beyond certain that I was the very last person to come in. But I really did not care. Some very encouraging words from them which was appreciated. I made some comment about "In case you didn't know it, I'm not a runner." and one girl said "Oh, but you *are* a runner. Look what you just did." More crying.

George ran along with me today. Most of the time, he would run ahead and then come back to get me. He probably put in 42 miles with all the 'up and back'. He's actually supposed to be 'tapering' because he's running the Boston Marathon in a few weeks. (Tapering is when you start decreasing your mileage as you approach race day.) So, thanks George for hanging with me and for running way more than you needed to.

I did the entire 15 miles in 3:54:46 which calculates to a 15:40 pace. Again, slow but steady.

Some tight knees this afternoon, but I really don't feel that bad. Kind of surprising. I'm sure I'll be dying tomorrow. But I don't feel as bad right now as I did after the half marathon. Yea for that.

Overall, I am very pleased with what I did today. I like the way I slowed my pace a bit so I didn't have to stop as much. That really worked. It was a good day. There was a lot of encouragement today from people I know and people I don't even know. Some emotional thoughts went on in my head this morning. But it was a very very good day!

Mom and Connie and her crew are coming over shortly to have dinner and watch the game. I'm very excited! Some interesting articles today about the Tigers. I think Cal is amazing and very intelligent. I can't wait to see the Tigers whip up on the UCLA Bruins. (We went to dinner at Rafferty's last night and there was a guy wearing a North Carolina jersey. I pointed to my Tiger shirt and shook my head and hollered at him across the restaurant 'What's wrong with you?!' Jodi told me to cut it out. Jordan said "Oooh Mom, you scared him." You bet I did! GO TIGERS!!!!!)

We are about an hour and a half away from tip off. I'm totally psyched! GO TIGERS!!!