10 Miles

Today's long run was 10 miles. It has been almost a year since I've run that far, since training for last March's Little Rock half-marathon. Richard was working, and I had to come to work at 2:00 so I was on my own this morning. I was armed with my Ipod, my fuel belt with water, orange gatorade (blue is my favorite but the gas station was out), half a pack of orange flavored Cliff Shot Bloks, and an espresso Hammer Gel. After the butt-kicking the Cooper River Bridge gave me the last time I attempted it, I thought I should tackle it again today. The weather was much more cooperative today, in the upper 50's when I started and mid 60's by the end with sunny skies and very light wind. I did the first couple miles on trails, then the next couple up and over the bridge into downtown, a mile or so into downtown, then back. I just ran for 2 hours, and figured that would cover at least 10 miles. It probably ended up being closer to 11, that's just a mind game I like to play with myself so 13.1 will seem shorter than I think. I assume 12 minute miles when I'm actually running more like 11:30 so I go farther than I think. I ate the Shot Bloks at 4 miles and the gel at 8 miles. That Hammer Gel was deelish! It tasted like squirting your mouth full of hershey syrup. There were lots of other walkers, runners and riders so it was nice to have lots of people to look at.

I wore my SkirtSports Marathon Girl skirt, which I love...but perhaps not the most appropriate item for running up a bridge with a tailwind. On the way back over the bridge the wind had picked up quite a bit and this skirt does what most skirts do in the wind, kept blowing up. It has built in spankies/panties/bloomers/whatever you wanna call them and I finally resigned myself to the fact that I could either run holding my skirt down or just let all the cars and other peeps o the bridge see what was under my skirt. I'm not the most modest gal around, so I opted for the latter after briefly attempting the former unsuccessfully. I just kept my head down so that nobody could make out my face and check out my bloomers simultaneously. I learned that at Mardi Gras in college, if you pull your top up, make sure it covers your face...but that's another post in itself, about a friend of mine, not about me of course. I finished feeling really strong, and pushed the pace up (relatively speaking) the last mile or so. It was a great run--no serious pain, great weather, good spirits. My spirits are not so good now that I'm at work on a Saturday night, but I ranted about that one in the last post so I'll spare you now.

I had to drive back over the bridge to get downtown for work this afternoon, and I talked some serious trash to it. Basically saying things along the line of "I dominated you today bridge" and "You're my bitch bridge!." I know, I'm wierd.

I'd like to give a big Congratulations to Lindsey at Chasing the Kenyans who is running the Goofy Challenge this weekend. That's a half-marathon on Saturday and a marathon on Sunday. She totally rocked the half today and I can't wait to see how she does tomorrow. Stop by her blog and give her some props!

And finally, here's a pic us with of our friends new baby, Keegan Matthew. We love him!