FINALLY!!! I'm back. I lost myself for a moment. Please excuse my lapse. I am still learning to be a good blogger. Here's the continuation of my last blog post, a detailed experience of my first marathon... see Part IV

The last ten, piece of cake. Right?

Wrong!

But at mile 16 I had finally recovered, dusted myself off from my fantastic fall and was so happy to see my friends Amber and Cameron. And for the next mile, I caught Amber up on what had happened to me on my 16 mile journey. It was nice to have someone to share my experiences with. Being a solo runner, I really did cherish having someone to help finish this race. She was amazing. She came with more GU's, aspirin, and as we ran it was nice to have someone to run into the crowds at the water and food stations and grab me what I needed and even stuff I didn't know I needed. She was a true angel to have those last few miles.

This is a continuation of my blog post on March 16, here. ------

At mile 14, I had both headphones working again. Hallelujah! Only, two more miles until Amber met me to finish the last 10 miles.

I had a roommate in college that did the New Jersey Shore Marathon the Spring of our senior year and I ran the last 10 miles of that with her too. It's amazing how helpful it is to have someone motivate you those last few miles. Someone to grab you water and oranges from the stations you could no longer deviate your path to get to. because running the straightest line to finish is the only option you have with 16 miles under your belt and still 10 left to go.

Running alone in a massive sea of runners is a high like no other. I can't express how helpful it was to have my mom running that first mile with me. It took my mind off of how long the rest of the race was and stifled my excitement. A large part of my struggle running long distances is the mental part of it. Being a Virgo, it's a large part of my personality, this over analytical and obsessive nature is something I struggle with daily. So, thankfully with mom's help, I was into mile two before I knew it. Around mile 3, I was running down Park Blvd. near the San Diego Zoo. In the middle divider was scattered Team In Training fans and supporters. They carried with them signs and pictures of all ages of cancer survivors. I don't know if it was the photos or the cheering or the fact that it was race day, but I nearly lost it. I tried to focus on my breathing and running as I wiped away a few tears and continued on my way. It was a small taste of the emotions to come later.

One of my good friends joined the LA Leggers running club two years ago and really enjoyed the commitment and community she found there. So, at the beginning of their new year (August 2010) I joined with her. Their goal is to train for the LA Marathon, which I did last year, and wasn't considering doing again this year, but I thought it would be great to have a community of runners and to be held accountable for getting faster and doing some long runs for no good reason. I was comfortable running long distances at a 9:30 to 10 minute mile pace, but I also knew I wanted to be faster. I can run 5-6 miles at an 8 minute a mile pace, but my goal is to do a marathon under 4 hours and that's just not going to cut it. So, I joined the 9 minute mile pace group. And I quickly found out they run some of their miles sub 8 minute! And it feels great and painful at the same time (masochism, I guess that's a running thing?). The beginning was pretty easy, a few 5, 6 and 7 milers every Saturday morning. I have to admit It was nice to get the long runs out of the way and have the whole rest of the weekend to relax and not worry about fitting it in.