Just 16 Miles

Conversation with friend before run:
Me: "How far are you thinking of running today?" (There were 3 groups: 14-16 mi, 16-18 mi, 18-20 mi)
Friend: "Just 16 miles."
Me: ......I have never heard 16 miles prefaced by "just!"
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Today I ran the furthest I have ever run in my life! 16.5 miles on the Boston Marathon course! Today was the 3rd Long Run with the Tufts President's Marathon Challenge Team. We ran from the Massachusetts Bay Community College 7.5 miles out into Natick, then back (in the direction of the actual marathon) towards Wellesley.

The best part was that it was about 55 degrees, blue skies, and sunny! I was in complete amazement at how beautiful the day was, and how incredible Spring is! As I was in the Northen hemisphere, then Southern, and now Northern throughout the course of the past year, I have had NO SPRING since my sophomore year at Tufts. I'm amused at my reaction to Springtime as such a novelty.

The first few miles of the run I was incredibly frustrated. My shins were really, really hurting, and I felt as though I wouldn't be able to finish this run if the pain kept up. I persevered, and by about 5 miles my shins were hardly bothering me. I was listening to my iPod, which was great because I had made a mix the night before and didn't have to keep shuffling through my music. I ran pretty conservatively because I didn't want to die on the way back.

The next 5 miles were the toughest part of the run. I generally don't like courses that involve an out and back, and that's exactly what this chunk of the run was. I guess the whole run was like that, but these 5 miles felt particularly tough. As we ran through the water station at mile 10, I felt daunted by 6 looming miles ahead of me.

Luckily I got over that pretty quickly, and let myself enjoy running the last 6.5 along the course. One of the best parts was trying to envision what it will be like on race day. As it was, there were a TON of people training on the course today all chatting and cheering each other on...it was great. It made me soo much more excited for April 20!