Last milestone.

These last two weekends have been pretty important in my Marathon training.  Partly because I've had to rearrange running days due to a random snow storm but also because we hit our last two milestone in training, 18 & 20 miles, and I couldn't have asked for more perfect weather!  Last Saturday, we had a beautiful, sunny day and my awesome friend Erin took on the miles and did so great!

Celebrating Erin's 18 mile milestone last Saturday!

Today the sun was so bright and warm, we had a nice breeze, and saw a huge herd of deer that were just beautiful!  I even got a super sweet sock tan line today!  It was so perfect for a long run!  Poor Chad has had to listen to me gripe and complain about the weather these last few weeks during our runs so I'm sure he was happy to hear me NOT complain (for once)!

We decided to run at 10 am this morning because lets be honest, there's not a "great" time to run 20 miles!  It's a big chunk of your day... I was excited because Deanna decided to join Chad and I on the run.  Deanna is an awesome new-old friend I am blessed to run with.  I call her a "new-old friend" because we went all through school together but didn't hang out in the same crowd.  When I started running, she took me under her wing and has been such a great encouragement and support!  Sadly, she lives out of state but whenever she comes home to visit family, we make sure we get at least one run in together!  

I enjoy running with Chad and Deanna because they are fun to talk to and conversation comes so easy.  With Deanna being out of state, I only get to see her every so often, so it is great to catch up, hear about her new running goals, and races she's signed up for.  Chad and I run together every Saturday & Sunday so we have to get real creative sometimes but he is super witty, so he typically has me laughing with his one liners. 

The 20 miles went very well today, my goal was to finish the 20 miles in 3 hours 30 mins.  I got great sleep, ate a good breakfast, and was ready to log the miles.  I felt good but really found my groove and felt my best from miles 7-16, once I knew I was close to finish just wanted to push home.  The last 2 miles just felt so long but when I knew I was just a mile away, it's amazing where you find strength! 

On long distance runs, Chad and I tend to stop talking for the last 5 or so miles.  I go to my happy place, pop my ear buds in, and push home.  

We finished around 3 hours and 23 minutes and I felt pretty good.  I'm definitely tight and sore and have been doing a lot of stretching.  I haven't ran that long of a distance at that pace so my body is definitely feeling the push but it is a good sore.

Crazy to think The Flying Pig Marathon is just 5 weeks away :)