Another first: 18 miles

Yes, 18 miles! Holy crap, I can hardly believe it's true even as I type it. Even better, it was manageable. Not easy, but do-able -- and I'm getting even more hopeful about my chance of completing the Seattle Marathon next month. I haven't signed up yet, mind you ... I want to get the 20-mile run (the longest one on the training calendar) behind me first. If I complete that, I'm going to register.

It was a successful run in every way. It had been raining up the wazoo that morning and things looked pretty grim when Little C and I got in the car to go to school. But by the time I met SuperAthlete J (SAJ) at her house, it had slowed to a drizzle. We organized ourselves and started the first of our 8-mile loops. Our plan was to do two big loops, then finish with a short two miles near her house.

Hilly route notwithstanding, the first loop felt great. I think taking a rest day before made a big difference for me. I felt strong, refreshed and ready to go -- even though, as usual, I had psyched myself out the night before and hadn't slept well. Why do I always do that?

We made a pit stop at SAJ's house at the end of the first loop to use the bathroom and grab more supplies. I had decided to experiment with a mix of foods during this run: vanilla gel (not bad, tasted like cake frosting), cut-up Lara Bars in peanut butter cookie flavor (fantastic) and frosted Cheerios (super-high glycemic index and yummy too). I can't do all gels, gus, sport beans or anything that's basically straight sugar without getting an unhappily sour stomach toward the end. But I do love the quick energy they give me. So I thought I'd mix things up and overall, I was happy with the results. Nothing gave me a stomach ache, although I did think I was going to have some fun diarrhea at one point. And I didn't feel sick -- during the run or immediately after, so I must have been doing something right.

For the second loop, SAJ asked if we could use our headsets. She used an analogy she picked up from her cycling class and said the second section of the workout is about commitment (I wish I could remember what the first section was supposed to be about, but I do know the last section is supposed to be about "going for it," which made me laugh because in my mind, those last miles are more about "getting through it"). Anyway, she really wanted to focus on her running -- so we plugged in and headed back out. We did stay together and exchange a few words now and then: a few times when we got slammed with the big winds that were blowing through that day -- why did they always come when we were running uphill? -- and again when we got a glorious sunbreak and felt a little heat on our shoulders. Heaven!

That second loop went well overall, but I could definitely tell I was getting tired. Plus, I had stupidly forgotten to restart my timer at our last bathroom stop, which meant that my deluxe watch wasn't tracking distance for me. I had to rely on SAJ to tell me how far we'd gone. By the time we made it back to SAJ's house, I was pretty wiped out. As soon as we stopped, I felt my calves and hamstrings stiffen right up. But we only had a mile and a half to go. I stripped off my jacket, which I'd been keeping on in case the skies opened up again, and we kept going. SAJ took us uphill initially, which felt brutal -- but also meant that we got to do our final 3/4-mile going downhill. As soon as we turned the corner and started heading back to SAJ's house and our end point, I got a complete feeling of delight and success. I kept thinking, "I've got this, I'm going to finish!"

Knowing that I was actually going to complete the distance gave me a happy burst of energy. In perfect timing, Michael Jackson came up on my iPod (I keep it in shuffle mode on long runs to keep things interesting) and I managed a few creaky gyrations as we ran along. Without talking about it, SAJ and I both increased our pace until we were going at a full clip. We rounded a corner and ... she gave me the high sign to let me know we'd finished our 18. Amazing!