My longest run ever in the books.

And I feel awesome about it. Thank you so much for all of your advice and encouragement on yesterday's post!  So here I am ready to break down this awesome run for ya!

Bam.  One of my friend who is a seasoned runner (multiple marathons, etc.) recommended an awesome trail off the Raleigh Greenway that is super flat and long.  I sort of fell in love with it.  It's through the woods, so it is fairly cool/shaded.  I got a little confused from his directions as to where to start, but it worked out perfectly.

As visible by the map, I started on the left side of the lake and ran up through those trails.  I couldn't figure out what to do when the Bent Creek Trail I took came to a dead end.  I decided to turn around and run around the remainder of the lake.  It worked perfectly because it looped me back around to my car around mile 4.

At the pit stop I drank some water and fueled up with a Chocolate Agave #9.  I think I'll do the same on my next long run there (unless I have a SPI belt of some sort on the next round).  Honestly, on mile 7 I thought I might just quit at 8.  I didn't do 8 last weekend.  I had to keep pushing though.  Obviously, 8 and 9 were the hardest and slowest miles.  I kept checking my Garmin and was just ready to be done.  Once I finally pushed through though, I have never felt so proud of myself.  Even on the treadmill today, I was envisioning that feeling of crossing the finish line at the half.  After the toughness of the 9 miles, it is tough to imagine adding another 4.1 to that, but I'm confident I can do it.  My pace was pretty crazy and all over the place, and I'm definitely not fast, but I didn't walk at all. 

I treated myself to Gatorade and an ice bath (that's right, I'm hardcore).  Give me your post-race recovery techniques!

I don't have a long run this weekend since I'll be running the Carrboro 10k in Carrboro, NC.  I have to admit I am definitely not excited about getting up early on a Saturday (which honestly is the only reason I don't do more races).  Literally my first thought every morning is how many days I have until Saturday when I can sleep in again.  Since I didn't get to do my summer 10k, I really want to finish this race.  I'm really hoping that D will come and support/cheer me on at the race.  How do you get your significant others/family to understand how big of a deal races are?  After next weekend, I have a 10 miler and 12 miler.  Bring it on!