15 with a FRIEND! So FUN!

I have to be honest; I usually prefer to run on my own. For many reasons…The first being that I am not that fast and when I run with people I start to feel insecure about my running…yes I am being honest., Second…I am a people pleaser so if you’re faster than me I will try to keep up so I don’t slow you down, Third…It’s “ME” time and I don’t get much of that at this stage in my life, FOURTH…I run out of energy and it’s harder to STOP when someone is with you (this is probably a GOOD thing), FIFTH…I get tired and it’s hard to talk when you’re tired. Those are a few reasons I have been nervous to run with people.

That being said I think I am starting to change my thoughts on this.  Training for a marathon makes you re-evaluate some things and this is one of them. When you are running so many miles each week you need to CHANGE it up a bit to keep it FUN and running with friends really CHANGES it up and makes it way more FUN. I have been running with more people in the last couple months, even people I really didn’t know that well, but this has turned out to be so GREAT and better then I would have thought. I am a people person so it has been so FUN to get to know new people over runs, catch up with old friends and just enjoy a running buddy from time to time. I still enjoy my runs by myself but running with others is a TREAT.

Bloggyland is GREAT! I have gotten lucky enough to meet some COOL local BLOGGERS! Kerrie being one of those cool bloggers who I got to meet when we ran Mercer Island together a couple weeks ago. We each have boys around the same age and we love to swim…look how much we have in common already!!! Plus if you read her blog you know she is FUNNY and I love FUNNY! I knew we would hit it off. She is a ton of fun and a sweet GAL!

Kerrie and I emailed earlier this week and decided to get together since we both had to tackle 15 miles. She had a great trail that she knew about which I was looking forward to since I always have to run on the busy, boring roads, well except when I trail run for 18 miles!?!?!? We met early (7:30am) which is rare for me. It was COLD…wow it was COLD! The trail was pretty and the SUN was shining which was so NICE. We had plenty to talk about since we really haven’t had a lot of time to talk and get to know each other. I love how running brings new friendships! The miles past quickly as we talked about kids, family, running, life and more. We were doing great with time until we hit the end of the trail and we still hadn’t hit 7.5 miles so we had think on our feet and we decided to head over to a school with a track and run around the track to get to 7.5 miles.

We high-fived as we hit our half way point and headed back. More people were on the trail by this time which is always fun to see. When the SUN is out in Washington…everyone is out and about…even if it’s only 37 deg. It seemed as if we were getting closer to the end but we still had a couple miles to go and sure enough we ran up the last hill and made it to the trail head with a 1.5 miles left to go…WHAT…how did that happen? We had to run on the road to get the rest of our miles in which is no fun. I like to run back to my car and be done and I don’t like being teased. Oh well…when training for a marathon…EXPECT the UNEXPECTED.

We ran 1.5 miles and finished. So glad to be done but WOW that went by fast. Running by myself 2+ hours seem to go sooooo sloooowwwww. Running with Kerrie, the time FLEeeewww by. It’s hard finding a running buddy that runs a similar pace! It was a Great 15 miles and it will be fun to have a friend to run with for more of my long runs. Great run, Fun TIMES!

Laying down so we can REST!

After coming off of a hard LONG run last week it was NICE to have a GREAT Run today. I felt good the whole way and had energy which is such a good sign. When the run was done I still felt good and wasn’t wiped like I usually am after a LONG run. A confidence booster for my MARATHON for SURE! Hope my next week long run is as good. Running with friends for LONG runs…WAY BETTER!

And we are DONE with 15 miles!  SWEET!

Totally forgot to put my STATS for this RUN!
4.10.10 Stats:
Miles: 15.13
Pace: 10:43
Time: 2:42
Calories: 1918