I did it!  After a little nervousness and a few trips to the bathroom before my run this morning.  I did get in my 9.5 miles.  The forecast is talking about less snow than anticipated and warm temps so the roads shouldn’t be bad, but I didn’t want to take the chance of going on during the snow or just afterwards and slipping.  So I worked extra hours in the evenings this week and got my run in this morning.  I went out at 9:30 and returned at 11:15.  That’s a long time to be out on a run!  I ran my normal 4 mile loop and did it twice.  So I ran by my house and all the way up my hill.  That required a couple walk breaks because by 4 miles I was feeling some fatigue.  When I got to the top of my hill I ripped open a packet of gu and had that with some water and started on the downhill run towards the last part of my run.  I felt slow the first 4 miles, but then felt better the second 5.5 miles.  Mentally I think I was intimidated around mile 3.6 becuase I knew I was only about 1/3 of the way there and that I’d be running the same road I was on one more time.  However, the morning was beautiful, it was about 40 degrees, the sun was out and I had cleared my schedule to allow for this.  I had 2 full bottles of water that I wore the entire time and drank them mostly in the last 3 miles.

I wore my calf sleeves; however, my shins did feel quite sore while I was running.  When I did get to my second loop I wasn’t feeling too bad.  I was also working to have a negative split, where my second half of my run was going to be run faster than my first.  I would say I was about even.  Possibly a little slower on the second half.  So I want to work on conserving my energy and running my long runs with a negative split.  In my last 1/2 mile the only worry I had was that my big toe on my right foot was starting to slide around and hit in my shoe.  I have to look into some socks.  I got a recommendation from my friend Shannon about features socks.

After my run I had my ovaltine, a cold bath for 20 minutes, followed by a quick shower and wore the calf sleeves for the rest of the day.  I did take 2 tylenol to take some of the edge off the soreness.  I am so happy I made it that far, I still have to do more long runs, and think I’ll be nervous just the same with each one.  BUT, I am 3.6 miles away from the half marathon distance, and quite honestly, that’s nothing!