15 miles

I begin every long run with a prayer. It is because of that prayer and the grace of God that I made it through the last mile. Did you see that crazy lady running in the middle of the road? That was me. I kind of knew I was in the middle of the road, I just couldn't get myself to move to the side. Once the car came, I moved. The crazy lady talking to herself, that was me too. I was trying to give myself that mental pep talk to keep going. To keep running. It worked, but like I said, only through the grace of God. Seriously.
These 15 miles were different than the 12 miles. It didn't seem like 15 miles. It was a familiar route. I just told myself that I was running to the high school, then around the lake a couple times, then home. It made it easier to break it up into increments like that. I dropped my water bottles the night before. What do I mean by that? I literally went and left water bottles on my route. I wrote a "T" on them so I'd know they are mine. Don't want to drink somebody's discarded pee bottle by accident. I stopped at the high school and just threw a bottle out the window onto the grass. The other one I left in a flower garden in Daybreak. Loved those waters. I picked them up along the way and ended up dropping them again to pick up on the way back home. This route was 90% flat which made it nice, but also made me really slow. I was a little disappointed at how slow I was. I'm over it now. I realized, it doesn't matter how fast I am. It matters that I'm running a MARATHON. As usual, I questioned my insanity. Always, always, always. I realized this is taking every ounce of mental energy I have. I wondered what the last 2 miles would be like. I've done 13.1 miles twice before. But nothing more than that. Before I started my run, I decided that if it ended up being 14.5 miles, I would be okay. As I was running, I realized, no, I want my data to say "15 miles." So I was going to keep going until that little voice said "15." Luckily, I hit 15 right by the clubhouse. I stopped running, put my hands in the air, and cried convulsively. Not just little tears, I was trembling. Why? I was so thankful I was done and I had done it. I did it!!! Yay me!! Then I realized I had to control myself before I got to my street or I might actually wake up the neighbors. So I did.
Later that afternoon, I treated myself to a facial and massage. I love massages. It felt so good. I was not sore from this run at all. I'm more sore from crash landing on a wake board the day before but that's a different story.
DETAILS:
Distance: 15.07 miles
Time: 2:48
Pace: 11:12 min/mile
Calories burned: 1,670
Water gulped: 42 oz (10+16+16)
Gatorade: 10 oz (Lovin' me lemon lime flavor)
Vanilla Bean Gu Gels consumed: 2