TWENTY MILES!!!!!

It is such a huge accomplishment, no matter how you look at it. For some reason, I didn't feel this way after 17 or 18. But 20!! I just wanted to walk around and tell random people, "hey, I just ran 20 miles."

It definitely wasn't easy. I had quite a few aches and pains. Things that hurt me before didn't bother me and new parts hurt where they didn't hurt before. I felt it more the next day than any other run. BUT... I had some kick at the end, which tells me that I could probably go another six miles!

We did a route we found online called "Tour of San Diego." It took us through areas of San Diego I have never been in. We ran along Sunset Cliffs, which is a beautiful stretch along the ocean and then over to Point Loma. We ran on Harbor Drive along the Bay. We turned into the city and went up some hills, turning and running towards Balboa Park. We then ran through Hillcrest, Mission Hills and Old Town. We finished up where we began at Hospitality Point in Mission Bay Park. The scenery was awesome. The hills SUCKED. There were two significant hills: a steep one into the campus of Point Loma Nazarene and the other up 6th street between Ash and Upas. While I had to walk up the one in Point Loma, the one up 6th street sucked more energy out of me (probably because it was around mile 12 or 13!)

I have to give props to Lisa, though.... She really came through for me. She told us on Friday that she didn't think she wanted to run the entire 20 miles. Her knees were bothering her and she didn't want to push it. She was going to run as far as she could and then call her husband to come get her. She thought she would go about 14 miles; I am pretty sure she was only mentally prepared for 14 miles. As we were going along, she said that she was feeling better than she expected. I kept telling her, "you can do it... just think how good you'll feel afterwards." Between 15 and 16 miles, Lisa said to me, "I'll make a deal with you.... I'll do my best to make it to the end with you, if you agree to stop and stretch with me a few times between now and then." "Deal!" Lisa pushed herself so that I didn't have to run by myself (Laura was way ahead of us).

We ran into some other runners around mile 18. They were with the YMCA running club and had their own little water station and offered to share with us. We refilled our water bottles and double checked the directions back to Hospitality Point. Their trainer was really nice and gave us a lot of encouragement.

As we were on the bike path heading back toward Ocean Beach, Lisa decided that she wanted to walk a little ways. I didn't want to check the mileage on the Nike+ (I probably should have) because I was afraid of what I would hear. Lisa and I chatted (without my headphones on) a bit about how to get back over the river to go to Hospitality Point. We agreed to see each other at the end and I ran off as she walked for a bit. I was starting to get discouraged because I hadn't heard the one mile notification from the Nike+ lady. I was thinking to myself, "holy cow, how much longer??" Apparently, I missed the one mile notice, because when my Nike+ lady told me through my iPod that I had 400 meters to go, I actually cried. Seriously... I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I am going to sob like a baby when I cross that finish line in three weeks.