18 miles

So, I've been psychologically prepping myself all week for the challenge of running 18 miles today...I ran every single day except for Friday! Even on mornings when I had to teach, I woke up ridiculously early and ran. Yesterday, I prepped my graduate course, graded most of my essays, only drank water, and tried to get to sleep at a decent hour.

Then, I couldn't sleep.

I lay there, thinking about 18 miles, and I couldn't sleep. The more I tried not to thnk about running that far, the more scared I got. So I finally fell asleep around 2 and had to wake up at 5 because, for some reason unknown to man--at least to me--, my TNT group decided to begin our Sunday run at 6 instead of 6:30. Inhumane. I'm already not a morning person, and getting up this early on a Sunday is just brutal.

But, despite my sleeplessness and general grouchiness this morning (even my dog, who pretends a big yawn so that I'll let him out of his crate and then promptly falls asleep right outside the door, is annyoing me right now), I know I can do this. I've been training so hard, and I'm strong, physically and mentally.

More importantly, I'm not doing this for me -- I'm doing it in memory of my father and other cancer heroes and survivors. This, I think, will be my mantra for today, and it should be enough to get me through.

hanging in there

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Last week was *crazy.* Two of my teammates and I decided to run Saturday morning instead of Sunday with the group -- I was supposed to work at a LLS triathlon event Sunday morning, and they were trying to help me out.
Well, I don't know why, but both Charlotte and I felt like absolute crap at the end. Charlotte was worse than me: she threw up in the bushes in front of a rental house while the realtor was showing the place! We had a good laugh over that.
Seriously, though, I have no idea what it was, but that run kicked by butt. I got home and promptly began to develop a migraine, which, of course, kept me from working at the triathlon in the first place. Aargh.
Today is a "short" run: we're running 12 miles to back off before we run 18 next week. I can't believe we're so close (we stop at 20!). I also can't believe I start teaching this upcoming week, Wednesday. It makes me nervous to be running such long distances and teaching simultaneously, but thankfully we're pretty far along. So having said all that, I should go RUN and put y'all's money to good use.

Me at 14 miles

So, this is a pic I took to send to people after running 14 miles. I think I look quite happy:


Unfortunately, my left hip and knee don't *feel* very happy, so I'm going to go to a therapeutic massage place tomorrow in hopes that it will help. I'm worried that I have ITBS (illiotibial band syndrome), but this isn't as scary as it sounds and can be resolved by stretching and conditioning--the former of which I'm too lazy to do, and the latter of which I haven't really had time to do. But I need to make time or I'll shred my knees before the race!

Also, this is my second time trying gu, this strange substance that we're supposed to ingest every hour or so...I tried some chocolat espresso last time and (yummy as that might sound) it tasted--mixed with water-- like chocolate pudding and made my stomach feel really really heavy and strange. So today I'm trying a lemon flavored one, because I personally like the tart flavors. We'll see how it goes...

Fundraising-wise, I think I'm doing okay (although that's relative, I guess). I've raised 51% of my goal, thanks to some really generous people and one person I'm not even sure I know! We're having a housewarming party next weekend, and I requested donations in lieu of food or beverages, so I hope that helps out.

So that's all for now, I guess. I just ate a banana and a peach and am contemplating some peanut butter before I begin my long run...but maybe I'll just leave things as they are, because my tummy is really fussy.

We're running 14 again today before we up to 16, so keep me in your thoughts.