20 miler: check!

I almost slept in when my alarm did not go off this morning. I woke up and looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was 5:35 am! Aaah! Thank goodness I had all my clothes laid out and ready to go. I even had time for a BM before leaving, (sorry! that might have been to much info, but those things are important for runners, specially when going on a long early run) and got there just on time.

So we met at 6 am at the capitol, run a couple miles up city creek canyon, came back down and run through the Avenues pass Shriner's hospital, to the Primary Childrens Hospital, the Zoo, one mile or so into immigration canyon and then back to the capitol again. It was great, a little windy and chilli as we went up immigration canyon, but great. We got lost for a little bit around the U campus, which I think gave us a little more milage, and eventually found our way back. The miles go by so fast when you are running with someone new like I did today. She is a cancer survivor, who started running 2 years ago after recovering from cancer, and has already qualified for Boston, she is running it this year. Wow! It's amazing how many inspiring people are out there running, and all the stories they have to tell.  Makes me count my blessings to hear stories like that. I have a little ritual before every run where I make sure to say a little prayer and thank Heavenly Father for the health and strength he blesses me with and being able to run. I am truly blessed.

So I did it! I ran my first 20 miler ever!  It was not a fast one, but I got all my 20 miles in and that is an accomplishment of itself! I think it took us about 4 hours, but I felt great the whole way, even felt like I could have gone for a couple more at the end (I didn't go for more at the end).

Next week 22 miles and then 2 more weeks for tapering til Marathon day!