17 Miles Saturday

Hello Monday! 
I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend with family and friends.  

This weekend marked 17 miles on the run calendar. However, the calendar also reminded me the bridesmaids and I were meeting for Ashley's wedding dress appointment at 10 am on Saturday,  and I had a 10 am riding lesson Sunday before heading to Massachusetts to visit family for Easter.  

With a tight schedule and serious devotion... I did what any newbie marathon trainee would do.  I woke up at 5 am on a Saturday morning to get my 17 miles in before a 10 am bridal appointment.
Nuts. 

By the time I hit the road at 6 am, it was still dark out.  I  threw on my reflective vest (and Olives) and we headed out for our run.  I had to stop downtown to take a picture of the sun rising over the CT River.  Beautiful 

The weather seemed in between jacket and long sleeve tee weather.  I started off with my lulu jacket, my long sleeve pink shirt, running capris, hot pink pro compression socks, my newtons, and my new 1.5 L camel bak. I ditched the jacket when I dropped off Olive at mile 10.  

I was really happy with the new camel bak.  It was super light weight, fit perfectly, and I forgot it was there for most of my run.  I was worried the "sloshing" might bother me but I  never even noticed it with my ear buds and awesome jams playing.  

My only complaint with the camel bak would be to have a bigger bag.  I was really surprised when I was out of water by mile 13.  In the bag packs defense, I don't think I filled it up all the way......will have to make sure to load up that puppy for my next run. 

While I properly hydrated (for once) I did not properly fuel for this distance.  I could not find the peanut butter, we were out of bananas, and the milk was bad, so I had to settle on a granola bar for a pre run breakfast, and one stinkin GU to get me through the run.  

Rookie Mistake. 

Despite my lack of fueling, my run felt pretty good.  I ran the first 10 miles with Olive and the last 7 miles alone.  Around mile 13 I was really losing steam so I switched up my play list, had a pep talk with myself, danced to single ladies while running, skipped and hopped to change up the monotony of running, and finished the last four miles.  I ran 17 miles in one sitting with only a ten second break to drop off the dog.  I am super proud of myself and I finally feel like this marathon is a reachable goal.

We're playing for keeps now :) 

Olive was quite happy to hang out on the couch for the rest of the afternoon after our 10 mile run in the sun. While Olive got to hang around and relax all day, I had to take a power shower and head to the liquor store get preparations for our fun filled day of wedding errands, maid of honor duties, and dress shopping.   Stay tuned for that recap :)