The End Of The Beginning....

I completed my final long run in preparation for the Oklahoma City Memorial (half) Marathon. Yesterday morning I started out at the Altoona Campus and with the company of a fellow training buddy Nicole. By the 5 mile mark we found ourselves in Pleasant Hill at the Copper Creek lake and on our way back to the start.

I have ran/biked that trail before and I swear those hills weren't there before! We chatted thru the first half and then found ourselves getting quieter and quieter....until we needed each others support to push thru the pain! There is something to be said to have someone next to you that you can complain to when the going gets tough!

I experienced knee pain for the first time in my running career and I gotta say, I'm not really a fan!

While the pain was pretty brutal at the time, it was nothing compared to how great we both felt when the Garmin jingled for the last time, marking the 10 mile point! We pushed ourselves another .04 and collapsed in the grass to stretch and bask in the glow of our greatness (and pain, but honestly, that part is already been forgotten!)

Today I feel great! I am a little slow going up the stairs from that knee, but other than that I am amazed that I ran 10 miles yesterday and can feel so perfectly fine today.

I am now officially ready for 13.1 emotionally charged miles next Sunday as we run to remember all the lives lost and forever changed in the Oklahoma City bombing 15 years ago.

6:30 am will be the beginning of the run I have been training for for the past 12 weeks...let do this!