October 7, 2011 TEN!

While running my farthest ever last week, I promised myself, "This is it. Nothing longer other than the half! Promise! No more of this craziness. This is far enough for training. Okay? Promise? Deal? Yeah, if I can get through this 8 miles, that's enough!"

That was a week ago. During the day yesterday, I went to the RunningAhead.com site that my buddy John Catania showed me. It's where I can plot and measure different distances. It's great. So, I got a little crazy. I thought, "8 miles is good. But what does 10 miles look like? How far east in Westerville must I go to add enough distance to make it 10?" So, I calculated a route and decided to break my promise from a week earlier.

Yesterday was unseasonably warm. Like, summer warm. When I ventured out after work it was 77! Still, I headed out. It was okay. Take it slow. Take it slow. I had my bottle filled with Gatorade and brought a GU packet. The run was long. Still, I took it slow. Main to Schrock. Schrock to Spring. Then, Spring all the way up to Maxtown. Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Take it slow. Don't stop. Drink when waiting at traffic lights. Keep pushing. The sun is setting. Getting cooler. Nice. Keep pushing. Aches. That's okay.

Keep pushing.

And then, I was done. I ran 10+ miles!

Okay, only shorter runs until the half ... which is in just 9 days! Still, I had run 10 miles!

10 miles!