10 miles under my belt,,,

Hello all-

The big one-oh this past Saturday went well, I'm really happy about it. My first double digits! Thank you all for such wonderful support, I appreciate it so much. So, I guess I'll give you the run-down:

Wendy and I ran together for the first 4, but since she's training for Disney (a whole month later than Kiawah), she was running 8, so she turned around at 4 and headed back. I was kind of dreading running the last six on my own, but I actually kind of enjoyed it. I used my ipod for the first time during my long runs, kind of just tuned in and ran. It was nice. I ran the 10 in 1 hour 51 minutes, so not too bad. I was proud of myself- no walking! Thanks to the water belt, I didn't even have to stop for water :) I love running on Saturday mornings with the Team because there are so many people out, all running or walking different mileage (depending on what race they're training for), so the entire time I'm running I'm passing teammates and coaches, and everyone is always cheering everyone else on. It really makes it so much easier when you have people encouraging you along the way.

My knee was still bothering me, and we can't quite figure out what's up. I think I'm really going to need to focus on my stretching and icing before and after running. Looks like I'm going to be investing in a few bags of frozen peas :) I was a little sore on Sunday, but not bad at all. Mainly, I'm just completely wiped out after running. It's funny, because immediately after the run I'm on such a runner's high, I feel amazing. But a few hours later, I can barely keep my eyes open and my body just wants sleep. Needless to say, I don't get a whole lot accomplished on Saturday afternoons.

I am really loving the Bloks. They are easy to take, don't sit in my stomach while I'm running, and they actually taste really good. I had a half-open pack in my room, left over from the previous Saturday, and I randomly thought about eating them for a snack, that's how good they are. No kidding. I'm going to buy the margarita flavored ones.... I think I mentioned them, extra sodium to compensate for all the sweating, but unfortunately no tequila, ha. I'm also going back to the running store to ask them about my knee. I want to have my shoes looked at, just to make sure either the size or the model isn't causing foot and knee pain.

Tonight we ran as a group at the Y. It wasn't too long (probably since it was so humid, first day of Fall my foot), but we did do hills for the first time. I was expecting worse I think, but they found a residential street that has a pretty good hill, then dead ends up top a little ways. We had to do three loops, up and down. I just like running with the group becuase everyone is so positive, and we always manage to have a good time while sweating all our bodily fluids out at the same time. F-U-N.

I'm heading up to D.C to visit my boyfriend this weekend, and we have some friends meeting us too so I'm really excited. Not to worry, I'm going to be running my 12 miles on Friday morning. I'm looking at this 12-miler like a little test: 12 is almost 13.1, a half marathon, so it should be a good indicator of how I'm doing. I think Doug is going to be riding a bike along with me, so I'm sure he's really excited too. It will be a nice change of scenery, but Doug will really have to be a great cheerleader to make up for not having the Team with me :)

The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. -Leo Rosten