Last Hoorah!

On Saturday I will be waking up at 4:30AM to head down the hill and start a marathon relay at 6am. (2 person teams are responsible for running 13.1 miles each) When I signed up to run 13.1 miles with my neighbor/friend it seemed like a fun adventure. Now it seems more like a chore. That being said, I decided to endure my last training run this morning. Last week I tweaked my left knee so I was worried about running a super long distance this morning. My knee doesn't hurt per se but it gets uncomfortable at times. After dropping P off at school, I drove to the wetlands. Ruby came with me to protect me from snakes, mustangs and strange people. Luckily we never encountered any of those and she made a good running partner....for the most part. The first 2 miles were a little erratic, with her helping me train for an obstacle course instead of just a run. When I run long distances I usually rely on my music to keep me going. But that wasn't the case today! I turned on praise music and just took in the beauty of the wetlands. I saw it from a photographer's eye, noting how the snow capped mountains reflected off the water. How the birds gracefully swooped from the trees to the flowers. How the creek flowed in between boulders and tall grass. It was breathtaking at times and made my run so much more enjoyable! At one point I made a wrong turn and ended up in a housing development. I noticed that my pace slowed because I was surrounded by man's creation instead of God's. Once I got back to the wetlands my pace picked up and we were off again. My knee was uncomfortable at times and by the 6th mile Ruby slowed considerably. So I cut my run short by a few miles. I came home and ran another 1.5 miles on the treadmill, bumping my total mileage to 7-8 miles. I'm going for a light run tomorrow or Friday to help my muscles. But, other than that I'll be running 13.1 miles Saturday. Ready or not!!