I did it!!!

Well, the peak training week is officially over! I ran two 5-milers and a ten miler during the week with the culminating 20 mile run this past Saturday. I was so nervous for the run but it went very well!

I had planned it out with Tony the night before that I would pass by our house halfway through to get my water bottle refilled. He was ready!

I left home around 6:30am. It's been staying darker later in the morning, so I ran for the first 5-6 miles in the dark. I went my normal way and felt great. It was so cold though. It was in the 30's which was quite a change since it had been in the 60s/70s. I didn't wear gloves and I had frozen half the water in my water bottle so my hands were freezing. At about 10 miles I called Tony and told him I was headed towards home but that I would run inside because I had to pee so bad. So at about mile 11 I made it home. I literally ran to pee and threw him my water bottle to fill up and I was back out the door within a few minutes. For the next 9 miles I stayed fairly close to home. I have to say that although my legs were beginning to get sore, I felt great. The last 2-3 miles of the run were actually my fastest. I even went ahead and tacked on .2 more to the run because I felt so good. Of course as soon as I was finished, my body tightened up but I kept moving and did some high knees and butt kicks to help with the tightness and that really helped. I was very proud of myself and even made Tony snap a quick pic to document my achievement:

One thing I did different on this run was I didn't look at my watch at all. I wanted to run and not worry about my time...just wanted to survive the 20 miles. My watch vibrates and beeps at every mile so I knew how far I had gone. This seemed to help relieve some of my anxiety about running a specific time or focusing on how far I still had to go. 

Overall I had a really great run. I just hope when the big day comes that I feel as good as I did during my 20.2 miler. 

Now is the hard part...tapering. I feel like I should continue to run super long distances but I'm not supposed to. Today I ran 12 miles and from here on out until race day, 8 miles will be the longest run so my body can rest and get ready. 

Only 2 weeks from today!!! I'm so excited and so nervous...very mixed feelings.