Sunday Runday, and Saturday, and Friday too...

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This was quite the weekend of running for me. Before today, I had never run anything further than a half marathon well this weekend I decided that I would join my favorite run buddy, Nikki from Slow is the New Fast for her Ultra training runs this weekend. Sometimes I don't know where these crazy ideas come from especially in the middle of the run when I feel like going to sleep on the sidewalk... but I felt like I needed to this do to test out some recovery options for the Seattle Rock n' Roll Half/Scotia Half back to back weekend in June so out we went.

Friday I had an extra training session and decided to squeeze in a quick 4k before, it ended up being the fastest 4k I've ever run. I've never been able to maintain a 5:00/5:15 pace for very long. Funny that my fastest run/farthest run both happened this week.

Saturday we met at 5:30am... yup disgustingly early, but we wanted to be able to get other things done during the day especially with another long run the following morning looming. It actually brightened up quite quickly outside which pleased me as I hate running in the dark especially on busy city roads. It was a good run, though quite slow, I was happy. I've learned with the long distance runs to stop worrying about how long it takes me to finish as it's just about getting out there and completing the distance, it's literally not a race.

17km went by just like that and it was time for a quick stop at Safeway for chocolate milk, yum! I made sure to put some compression socks on after my shower and I even had a bath last night. I was still pretty sore but more of it is from my training session on Friday as opposed to the actual running.

This morning (Sunday) we decided to meet a little later at 6:30am. I was definitely less energetic this morning and a little more sore. I put on my finisher shirt from my very first Half, the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco for extra motivation. We grudgingly headed off in the rain. Surprisingly, my legs weren't that tired from the day before, I felt it but not enough that I doubted finishing the run. It was certainly damp and a little bit cold, but I'm super proud of myself for going that far in a training run and dare I say it... enjoying myself! We talked on the run about how just a few years ago (for me) 10k felt like an eternity of running and it feels so short now, a lot has changed. As we reached the 21.3km mark we stopped to take a picture as I had breached the unknown (unlike Nikki who ran the Goofy challenge in January and did that many times during her training and race):

The picture makes me laugh because I think it looks like I'm going to cry and in a way right now I think I could, not because I'm exhausted and sore but because a full Marathon is in reach, it's not just an idea anymore. As we neared the end of our run I still had some energy and I feel like I could have run more, I honestly never believed I'd feel like that after 24km (and 17km the day before). This weekend we ran 41km, just short of a Marathon distance. A marathon, hmm could I fit one in before the end of the year?

Now I need to go make friends with my new foam roller...