12 Miles...Check!

Mark:

After a week of gradually getting back in the swing of things, I got to run a long run on Saturday. 12 miles...Woohoo! Every time I run I have the same two goals...finish and run the entire time. I am proud to say that I accomplished both on Saturday. I ran 12 miles without stopping. On Friday, Shannon and I ran 5 miles for our short run. It is crazy to think that 5 miles is a short run. I ran great, and I was looking forward to Saturday. Now, 12 miles is a long way, but you already knew that I'm sure. I started off great, and I felt great. In fact, I was running about 30 seconds per mile faster than what my goal is for the marathon. Then I hit mile 8. I didn't feel bad, but I had to slow down because I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain my pace. Then came mile 11. Let's just say that it was much hotter at 7:40 than at 6:00 when we started. I started counting down the time to try to figure out how much time I had left to run. The last mile was completely brutal. I kept thinking 4 more songs...3 more...2 more...last song. I finished, but I was completely spent. When we were done, Chev (my friend who is running the marathon with us) looked at me and said the marathon will be everything we did plus running it all over again. CRAZY! Honestly, I can't imagine running 26.2 miles right now. The thought of it scares, overwhelms, intimidates, and discourages me. I struggled running 12. How in the world can I run 26.2? People keep encouraging me by saying that I will get there. Just keep at it. Your training will make sure you are prepared. I appreciate all the positive comments and encouragement, but it seems like an impossible task at this point. Thinking about it just makes me tired. Writing about it makes me tired too.

Please don't forget we are running with a cause. If you haven't given yet, we would really appreciate your support. We both still have a long way to go to reach our goal as we raise money for pediatric cancer. Just click one of the links above if you would like to help out.