A beautiful day.

Yesterday I ran 10 miles as I start to taper down in preparation for the Surf City Half on February 7th. I do not usually do long runs by myself, and I almost always find myself having a hard time when I do. This time was different. I set out from the house at 6am and it was still dark. Still and quiet and peaceful. I mentally broke my run down into manageable sections...the first 3 miles were out, and then I have no choice but to make the same 3 back, making it 6 and over half way...then a mile down the hill...it's always easier to wrap my mind around small sections instead of trying to think about the whole 10 miles at once. Around 6:45 I was about 4 miles in and the sun was starting to peek out. It was partially overcast, making bright beams of sunlight seem to stream out from behind pink tinged clouds. It took my breath away and kept me going. At mile 5.5, I decided to change up my route a little. Thank goodness for my new phone (Motorola Droid!), which is equipped with an awesome Nav system. I plugged in my course change and was still able to add up the right mileage. Sweet! The best part of the run?? I had told my husband to bring the kids and meet me at Denny's for breakfast! Thoughts of pancakes and coffee and the smiling faces of my family brought me right through the last miles with a grin on my face. I had told them I'd be there by 8am, and darn if I didn't run into the parking lot at exactly 8:02. It was monumental to me that I not only accomplished the long run alone without a lot of waivering, but that I completed it in exactly the time I set out to, even with the on-the-fly course change. I love it when the person pushing you from behind turns out to be you. A very good run.

Even better, I headed out from breakfast (after a quick shower!) to a Team in Training info meeting where some friends showed up and signed up to join the Summer Team. I'm SUPER excited about that! AND, my dad came for a visit, too! It was fantastic to see him. All in all, a beautiful day. It's slated to rain all week this week, so looks like I'm in for some dreadmill days ahead. At least it's tapering time and mileage is getting lower. I'll check in again soon!