Hours and Hours and Hours of.... well... running.

It's now hours and hours and... well.... hours later.

I've got a mild sunburn, sore muscles, a bruised toenail (that I secretly love)... and a really great excuse to eat this slightly obese man size bowl of ice cream, and permission to zone out on some embarrassingly bad recorded television.

When I woke up this morning it was pouring, and when I say it was pouring... I mean drenched before you make it to your car, umbrellas, rainboots, cats and dogs POURING.  I checked the weather, clicking on the hourly to see if it was meant to get any better. HA.... no, in fact every hour it gave us an 80% chance of whaaa, whaa.  Paired with thunder and lightning storms to boot (yes ta boot.. when you run 20 miles you too will be allowed to say goofball things as well.)

 looking and feeling fresh.

We were ELEVEN in all.  A pretty hefty turn out.  And no stinkin' rain (ha.. take that man in smart jacket).  All signs pointing to a pretty great run.

Well until we actually started.. I'll be honest and tell you that the first 4 miles felt like I truly was the imposter I jokingly kept calling myself.  Why must my legs feel like they belong to a 400 lb man? 

Since we were going on a large loop the gals that started and weren't doing the full 20, had to do out and backs.  Some turning around at a 2 mile mark, then a 3 and a 4.  Two girls decided to take a trail, hoping to cut off a large portion of the loop thinking maybe it might be a 8 mile run. Turns out it was a 10 in the end. Not intending to go quite that far they felt mildly comforted at the thought of us still running for an additional hour and a half.

Six miles in, we are all magically feeling better.  Our pace is picking up, only to be quickly slowed down for fear of burning out too quickly. We start busting out our goodies, Some have Candy, others a bar but not Shannon she's got a burrito. The one she made for me is tightly wrapped in plastic and squished awkwardly in the back of my sports bra.  After all by the end of this we'll have burned aprox 2,000 calories and a handful of jellybeans just isn't going to cut it!

Probably the funniest part of the run was the part around mile 10 when I passed out these new salt tablets I received in the mail only yesterday.  I asked if anyone wanted one they all said yes, two already swallowing the strange capsules and the third wanting a little more information... I go on and on about the benefits, only to be interrupted by Deb who was pointing out the fact that I had yet to take one.  I simply said I wanted to wait until a shorter long run to.... ha.... I only wish I could've captured the faces. 

Running out of stories, or maybe just energy to talk. The final two miles we're all plugged in, picking up our pace, and not making each other slow down.  The mood has turned from relaxed to pure survival.  When we make it into town I'm wishing I had a big fat sign with our millage across my chest, to excuse our exhausted faces. 

We're all running for the BEEP.  That beautiful pat on your back, atta girl, you can stop now... beep. 

There it is.  Our running shuffle slowly becomes a walking shuffle.  Big sighs and a shaky hug mid sidewalk marks our accomplishment.  Then mild avoidance of eye contact, cause we're too tired to cry.

and we're done.

20 miles. ave pace 9min 52sec.

P.S. can you tell I held back a bit, my head was telling me to drone on and on.. but luckily for you my hands reminded me I need to go to bed.