5 Miles!

Saturday was my week 3 long run. 5 miles.  I had worked a lot and gotten as much sleep as could the night before (about 6.5 hrs).  I had also made sure that I ate at my normal intervals.  At this point I knew that I could do the 5 mile walk/run, but I was really nervous about my knee situation.  I didn't want to injure them further, but I also didn't want to not do it if I could.  So, I showed up with a snack this time.  It was cool, light out and 6:30 in the morning.  You know that I'm committed when I will purposely show up at 6:30 am.  It had rained the night before, so there was rain water dripping on us from the trees. Due to my pain and friend's lack of sleep, we turned out to be very raw and negative on the first third of our run. Once we noticed this, we worked on using our positive thinking mantras. Unfortunately, it just felt like words that I didn't believe.  But at least still worked on it nonetheless.  It was amazing how many people were out at this time in the morning. Most of them friendly. It's also very encouraging when other people are bright, chipper, smile and say something back to you when you say "good morning!"  Sometimes it's just the boost that you need to keep going.  My knees seemed to relax as we got to mile 2.  I can't believe that I just wrote that sentence.  Who would have thought that knees would relax after walk/running 2 miles.  But it happened.

The beautiful sunlight as we turned around at 2.5 miles.

It was helpful to repeat, "One more step, one more step.. ." several times when going up hills.  Those hills seemed to take forever.  But we got up them.  Some where after 2 miles there was an extremely attractive man running that I am pretty sure was put on that path just to entertain and encourage us.  He was the most good-looking man that we have seen on the trail yet!  We had to cross two roads which we hadn't done before and it was exciting.  We knew we had to be close to the 2.5 mile marker where we could turn around.  The picture trio the right is me running past the 2.5 mile marker.  I couldn't figure out why I kinda look like a giant, but I think it's because my friend is shorter than me mixed with me height.  Anyways, making it to the halfway point gave a burst of energy to finish off our run.  We passed a lot of people twice which was fun sometimes.  My friend got a couple of compliments on her bright pink hair which always made us smile.

We continued to attack the hills, and lets just say were dominating them! A woman running with her friend actually told us we were looking good. It was the second time we had passed them.  It was wonderful having  a perfect stranger give us encouragement.  After a bathroom break, we were at the 4 mile mark.  Who knew?  I keep being grateful and loving that I can do things that I never thought I could!  Did I mention there were more hills?  We made it to mile 5 in 1 hour and 29 minutes! I think our time reflected our attitude, lack of sleep, and pain.  But we completed the 5 mile walk/run!  It was fabulous, sweat and all. Sweating salt is also a huge thing. It is actually enough that if I try to wipe my sweat off, my skin feels like sandpaper.  It's weird. Must be why they have sodium in those GU things and Gatorade type products. I also have learned that ice is my friend.  10-15 minutes on, then 10-15 off, and back on again.  It totally worked on my knees. They aren't 100% but they are feeling better.  Most importantly, I made it through my 5 miles. It was great having a friend to run with, it made it so much more bearable.  Woot!