A Long, Long (Long) Way to Run

This morning, Dean dropped me off in the woods and left me there. I joked that I felt a little like Hansel and Gretel, only I didn't have any bread crumbs with which to make a trail (I suppose I could have used my Luna Moons though...). Anyhow, Dean dropped me off near mile 3 on the Forest Preserve trail. Then he took the kids to run errands, with the intention of meeting up with me (10 miles later) at the lagoons, where he was going to take the girls fishing and wait for me to finish my run. We are getting creative now about getting our long runs/bikes in.

So I ran. And ran. And ran. I saw three or four deer. Did NOT see any axe murderers or rapists. Or, if I did see them, they didn't try to abduct me. (Editor's note: That last bit was directed at my mom.)

I stopped to pee. Ran some more. And some more. And some more. And some more.

When I finally reached the lagoons where the girls and Dean were fishing, my Nike+ read the distance as 10.77 miles. I'm not sure whether the trail map is off (it had me going a little over 10 miles, but the mile markers disappeared at some point, so I lost track) or Nike+ is off. Probably a little bit of both. Regardless, I ran a long, long, long way today.

The good news is that this distance did feel easier than it did when I ran my 10-mile race back in April. On the flip side, a half marathon is 13.1 miles, so I've still got many more miles to cover.

My Nike+ also reports that I've now covered 200 miles since the end of May. Between these 200 miles and the 200+ miles I certainly covered between January and May, it sounds like it's time for a new pair of shoes. (Good to know: Running shoes only stand up to about 500 miles of wear. It used to take me two years to go through a pair of running shoes.)

A friend of mine had bet me that I'd run a marathon in due time. I'm not so sure. If ten miles feels like a long, long, long way to run, I can't imagine going the full 26.2. I suppose we'll see. Never say never, and all that. But I have to admit, I'm completely wiped out from today's run (AND I took a nap earlier). I'm not sure I'm up for a full-time job, a part-time job, the rigors of motherhood, and the trials of marathon training. At least not in the foreseeable future. I'll be happy--for now--with 13.1.

And now, I'm off to replace lost salt with margaritas and lost carbs with pasta.