She said this was FUN! LOL

Today I had a goal - get in as close to 8 miles as I could. The time and pace did not matter. The location did not matter. All I wanted was to go further. I gave an open invitation for friends to join me for motivation. Only one was brave enough to jump right in, but she asked that we walk, not run. Fine by me!!

We set out at 7:30 this morning. We started at a brisk pace and kept it going. We had no clue where we were going. A few times it turned comical as we stared at giant hills in front of us and thought, "What on earth are we DOING?! Is there another route option?" We just kept going forward as quick as we could, and talking just as fast. The conversation certainly made the miles go by much quicker.

Around mile 3.5 I got the ever-familiar numbness in my foot and it traveled up my entire left side until my face was numb. I kept moving. It wasn't nearly as painful as it has been in the past. {By mile 6, I didn't even notice it anymore. Of course, by then my whole body was tired and aching. But, still.}

We took a super-short break at 4 miles, then headed into my neighborhood. I was thankful for the familiar route that I didn't have to think much about. We continued talking as fast as we were walking, and plugging away at the miles. By miles 6 we were both really tired, but I felt good enough. In the back of my mind was the nagging, "how I am ever going to RUN these miles, and how am I ever going to do 13 of them?!" But, for the moment, I was just thankful that I felt okay enough to go these miles today.

My awesome friend had brought some almonds with her on the walk. I made a mental note to buy a bag when we get to Tahoe. Just a handful was all I needed mid-run to keep the energy up. Highly recommend.

As we neared my house I began thanking my friend for coming with me, and she said, "this was fun!" I cracked up. I couldn't help it. Fun? That IS what we call this, right?? Despite the humor and thinking how "not fun" 13 miles was sounding, I did truly appreciate the company and friendship on the walk today.

We made it back to my house and our GPS watches showed we'd gone 7.4 miles. We also did pretty great considering the massive hills - keeping between a 16 and 18 minute pace. I felt like I COULD have run a lot of the miles today, and I felt like I could keep going if I had to. I decided that ending feeling that way was a good thing. Next weekend's long run could be an entirely different story. Three weeks from now, I just hope and pray I can still walk across the finish line and be able to walk after the race!

I'm still a little unsure about Tahoe, and I'm still really glad for the mostly downhill race, our cabin being smack in the middle of the race route (can you say snacks, real bathrooms, and cold water?), and knowing I won't be there alone. Trying to focus on all of the positives, but in the back of my head is still that super-loud, annoying voice asking, "What are you doing?!" "Why?!" At least now I have the, "This was fun!" to remember, smile at, and use to quiet that annoying voice. Again, I am so thankful for each of you who have come alongside me during this journey. Today, I'm especially thankful for you, Valerie, and the fact that, without hesitation, you just said hey, let's do this and let's finish this. I'm also very thankful for you, Donna, being here to watch the kids so I could take a couple of hours to try to get these miles in! This race is most assuredly not going to be an individual accomplishment. You will all have earned that medal long before I have mine in hand!