18 miles ... 34 days....

WOW.

I did it.

18 miles yesterday in 3:26 and change.

Ouch... and yay... and I FEEL LIKE I CAN REALLY DO THIS NOW. I think :) lol

I guess for me its going to take watching myself complete each long run now to prove to myself that I can do the big race. Honestly at times I feel like I am outside of my body when I'm running. Like it's doing the work, and just taking my spirit along for the ride. I wonder if other runners feel this way... I'm finding a separation in body / spirit / mind. It's quite amazing how we work as human beings.

I'm sore... but okay. Don't feel nearly as bad as I thought I would being I only did 2 of my 4 weekday training runs last week. I thought for sure Sunday I'd be hurting in a big way. I was hurting, but not in a big way. Also - this morning I woke up with my period, which made me pretty excited - but not for the reasons you would think ... lol I know this week was hard for me training, and I"m realizing now it's because I was overtired and PMS'd out! So if I can run 18 miles the day before I get my period, and know I'll be done with it before the marathon next month - I feel that much more confident. For me, the "girl thing" gets in the way of my energy level in a HUGE way.

I met some great individuals running yesterday. Helped out a girl early on in the race that was a little more inexperienced and really trying to qualify for next years marathon but had only been training for a month. Talked her through a few hard hills, and helped her to relax... it's times like that I really get the most from running. I love to be of use and help others in their own struggle with it all, knowing I felt exactly the same way and SO appreciated the help I've received.

Amazing times. As my runs get longer, my words seem shorter...

I'll leave you with this... THANK YOU.

Peace,
Curls
xo