My 20 Miler with Friends

It has been pretty mild here in New England weather wise this winter so far. But when I woke up on Sunday and saw 17 degrees I knew winter was laughing at me and finally was coming to stay. Normally I do not mind the winter too much but this is the first winter I will spend it marathon training. Yes I know I am crazy? Maybe ;) But I have this race in Hyannis in February that I want to be in tip top dare I hint BQ shape for? Well the BQ is in question obviously but I am working to at least get closer and assess for the next one. Yes there will be quite a few marathons, hopefully in 2012 :) So I guess Sunday was my first tough long run in the bitter cold that New England promises all winter :) I was very glad to have Robin and Damian with me! They kept me going. Robin and I set out while her sister and Damian also set out to run our long runs. We run at the same pace so its perfect. It was good Robin was there because I struggled on this run. First, it was cold. Like my water bottles froze and the nuun in my hand held was a slushy cold. At one point I spilled some nuun and it instantly froze to the side of my bottle. I was glad I wore my clava mask. It kept my breathing pretty warm and I did not have the issues I had last weekend. Second I felt tired and weak. This was the first week of my new training plan and it is well, kind of hard ;) I have a big goal so I have to work harder. And this week I put in quite a few miles. My stomach was acting up and we had a bathroom break at mile 12. After that I kind of looked at Robin and just said something like I don't know if I have it in me today. She said I would be ok. She kept reassuring me. And honestly if I did not have her there I am not sure how I would have gotten through most of that run. We chatted the whole time and she chatted more this time. She told me some of her amazing marathon stories and before I knew it the miles were ticking away. That is the beauty of running with friends. When one person is struggling the other can help pull you through. Really before I even realized it we were at mile 19! Just one more to go. Halfway through Robin tried to push us and I turned to her and said I do not think 8 is in my legs today. But she smiled and said let's just see what we have left. And we pushed to an 8:30 pace to finish out the 20 mile run! I felt like crap when I was done but in a good way :) I was exhausted, cold, and hungry but I was done. Another 20 miler done and in bitter cold too. It is those tough long runs that you have to mentally push past that make you stronger in the end. And when I am struggling I still float my mind back to a day when I ran 29 miles in a snow storm and made it through. Sometimes it is hard to realize what we are capable of until it is over :)