I ran 15 miles, I don't have to be creative.

***UPDATE: Here are my splits***

Miles 1 and 2 were combined because I forgot to reset the lap - so they were 23:36, or about 11:48 per mile.

Mile 3 - 11:43

Mile 4 - 11:55

Mile 5 - 11:47

Miles 6 & 7 - also forgot to reset the lap, so they were 23:46 combined, or about 11:53 per mile

Mile 8 - 11:46

Mile 9 - 11:37

Mile 10 - 11:59

Mile 11 - 12:21 (included walking)

Mile 12 - 11:49

Mile 13 - 12:15 (included walking)

Mile 14 - 11:31

Mile 15 - 12:13 (clearly I was half dead at this point)

So - 1632 calories burned (should have been more like 1500), 2:53:31 total (I am slow), Average heart rate of 167 bpm (finally coming back down).

I need to get faster if I want to finish this marathon before I turn 28.

I've been trying to remember all week to put my Garmin in my purse when I leave for work so that I can blog and include my split times, but I have been forgetting all week. And yes, I could blog from home, but where's the fun and procrastination and laziness and delinquency in that? That's what I thought.

Anyway. I ran 15 miles on Saturday morning. I was terrified. I ate pasta on Friday night and tried to hydrate sufficiently for the run (but can anyone really ever hydrate sufficiently for a 15 mile run?). I didn't fall asleep until around 11:30 or 12, then I got up at about 6:30, walked the dogs (both were there), and set out on my run. I thought about turning back roughly 1321499134 times during the run. Or breaking it up into smaller chunks. Or quitting marathon training and just running the half instead of the full. But I kept running, I just kept saying to myself "just finish this mile then you can decide" and then I'd say "well you just finished that mile without a problem, you can keep running."

I went over into Canton first and then came back towards my apartment - that loop was 6 miles. I ran into my building and up to my apartment to use the bathroom and refill all my water bottles. I then ran through the Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, and up to Locust Point where Under Armour is. I passed UA this time without refilling my water bottles and ran to Fort McHenry (the site of the run where I basically died due to overheating). Screw you, Fort McHenry, for tearing up your asphalt trail and forcing me to circle the Fort on the grass, which was slightly refreshing for my legs but really annoying overall because I had to keep looking at the ground and couldn't raise my eyes to take in the beautiful scenery before me. Anyway, when I looped back around to pass UA again, this time I stopped, hit the restroom, and refilled my water bottles again. Oh, and I'd been eating Clif Shot Bloks every 30 minutes, which worked pretty well. I ate at least a pack and a half if not two packs (I had one full pack and two partial packs). I'm thinking about trying GU or Clif Shot Gel this weekend (which means Annie gets to witness the glory if my stomach rejects them...yay!).

ANYWAY. I was running through the Inner Harbor for the 2nd time when I hit 13.1 miles and then almost burst into tears (you have no idea how emotional you get when you're running long distances) because I had just passed the distance that had previously been the furthest I'd ever run in my entire life. The last two miles were spent on a high basically just being super excited that I was officially running further than I'd ever run before with every subsequent step I took. It felt pretty awesome. When I got back to my apartment building I was still a couple tenths of a mile short of 15 so I circled the block a few times until the Garmin finally tipped over the distance marker.

Other highlights:

• me giving the sun the double middle finger around 7.5 miles because it wouldn't stop shining directly on me and making me overheat
• me giving a homeless man the $10 I'd put in my fuel belt in case of emergency around mile 14.6 because I was on a runner's high and so proud of myself for having run that far (sue me, but I don't normally give homeless people money, especially not ten dollar bills, I'm sorry)
• me "run-dancing" through the Inner Harbor on my way home because I was almost done and I was listening to some good music (Nikki Minaj's new song Super Bass, pretty sure I listened to it 5 times during the run, highly recommend that you download it). It was probably embarrassing but I really didn't care.

So my body was pretty pissed afterwards. My toes still hurt. I'm not sore anymore, but I was the rest of the day Saturday through Tuesday. But I think that run really did more for me mentally than it did physically, because I proved that I can run further than 13.1 without dying, and once you've run 15, 20 doesn't sound that bad, and when I run 20 I'll be ready for 26.2 (that number still strikes fear in my heart, though).

I'll add my splits once I find the motivation to either blog at home or put my Garmin in my purse.

Only facing ten this weekend, and Noodle will be in town and has agreed to run them with me, so I'm looking forward to that!