support

Yesterday, I planned to tackle 17mi. My longest training run so far. And thankfully, with the help of three awesome friends, I made it. It wasn't pretty and I may have whined a bit, but slowly we got the miles ticked off.

The first leg was 10mi round trip to Melrose and back. Lauren, who I'll be running the Baystate Half Marathon with, joined me for this leg. It was a gorgeous morning for a long run and I was so glad Lauren decided to run with me! Who gets out of bed to run a crazy amount of miles on a day off with you? A good friend. It was fun to see an old familiar running route through a friend's eyes. We ran mostly 9:45-10min/miles. It felt great in the moment, but I knew I'd probably pay for it later. 

9.5mi in the books!

My next leg was on my own. I had another 3.5mi to cover before meeting up with my next support crew. I ran around the lake the opposite way I normally do. By then it was starting to get pretty warm (70deg) and I was starting to feel the effects of the first 10mi at a sub 10min/mi pace. But I forged on, walked just a little bit and got to my house a few minutes before Jocelyn and Matt arrived.

I warned them it would be slow - and I didn't disappoint! By this time, I'd ticked off 13mi and had just 4 more measly miles left. Somehow these are the hardest. You may recognize Jocelyn, she's made appearances in the blog before - Great Bay Half, Applefest Half, along with countless other training runs. On this particular day, Joc was the one who was coaching me through the last mile. Helping me visualize the various markers along the way. "Just run to the light. You can make it to the water fountain. Get over this last little hill. Keep going!" So helpful when my legs felt like jelly beneath me! We finished, and I collapsed.

just before heading out on the final four

I have a few theories as to why this 17miler was so tough: 1. it was flippin' hot! 2. I knew I didn't have enough to eat - by the time I got to mile 10, I was a little nauseous and didn't take anything...by the time I hit 13, I knew it was too late. 

What made it bearable and doable was having awesome friends coming alongside me. Thanks for the support, you guys!!