10 miles!

I'm training for a half-marathon that's coming up quickly ... a little over 7 weeks away (up until a few minutes ago, I thought it was only 3 weeks away, but then I realized there's another month in there)! I started out training pretty good, but this past month has not gone well. My longest run to date was around 9 miles of which I probably walked the last mile or mile and a half. My last long run was over a month ago. But today was just too great of a day outside to pass up for a run. Even though I was pretty tired after work, I decided to try a long run. I didn't know how much I could do since it's been so long so my goal was 8 miles, but I had mapped out a 10 mile option if I felt up for it (which I figured I wouldn't). Around the 3.8 mile mark, I had to decide whether to retrace my route back or keep going. I was still feeling good, so I decided to turn South and keep going with the full 10 mile loop. I had thoughts of having to call a friend to pick me up because I couldn't finish. It was also supposed to storm, so I was worried I'd get caught in that. It was really windy (20-30 mph gusts only an hour earlier), and when I turned South I was running right into it. At one point, I really wanted to start walking, but I decided to keep going to the traffic light I could see ahead (which turned out to be about 3/4 of a mile away). I got to the light and was pleased to realize that it was the road that I needed to turn on to head back home. I decided to keep running and after a short while, I was fine.

Long story short, I ended up running the entire 10 miles! It seemed like I wasn't going to be able to run the whole thing towards the end because I had to run on pavement (where I was mainly running on grass and dirt most of the way) which was considerably more tiring on the legs so I thought I'd have to walk for a bit. But, I made it, and I was so pleased with myself. According to Google Maps, it was 9.9 miles in 99 minutes. 10 minute miles isn't impressive, but considering I maintained it for 10 miles, I was more than happy. I could've done a little more, so now I just need to be able to finish another 3.2 miles which I was questioning before, but now I feel confident about. My goal going in to the race was just to finish, and I think I can do that now. :-)