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Miles with Friends

I had wanted to title this post "The Miles Fly By With a Little Help From My Friends" (a la the Beatles), but it was a bit wordy. But, it's a preface as to how my long run went on Saturday.

Somehow we ended up skipping fall temperatures and dove straight into winter. Other than frozen frozen fingers, the downside is trying to figure out how to dress for the cold weather all over again. In other words, how to listen to your rational brain and NOT over-dress.

Your body it screaming at you, shivering from the cold. It's saying, "wear more clothes." But then you know deep down you're going to warm up, eventually. And if you're like me, you have some long-sleeved tops that are heavier than others, some that block wind, some that don't, so then you have to figure out how to arrange all that.

Saturday morning I debated my attire over and over and finally just went with short sleeves under one of my heavier tops (wind blocking). Was I over-dressed. Yep. Oh well. Live and learn right?

The plan was to run some miles before meeting up with Amy and a new running partner, L, that Amy had met the previous week. L also brought a friend with her so we had a nice little running group going on for my long run. Amy was going to run 12 with me, and L and C were shooting  for 10 miles.

With four miles under my belt, the four of us set off on some sight-seeing miles. L was not familiar with my neighborhood area, which is historical, so Amy and I thought it would be nice to meander the 'hood and show them the homes and landmarks.

The weather ended up being almost perfect for a long run. It was sunny, not terribly windy, and certainly not too hot out. The trees finally decided to turn, so it was a very scenic, gorgeous start to the day.


The miles flew by with the new company. Seriously, having running buddies is so important. Something I'm really just learning with this marathon training. I think some of my first long runs were bad mentally because I was alone and started letting that affect me.

The long runs I've had lately have been really really good. And I think, know, that it's because I've had support for the biggest chunk of the miles. I don't have many friends that run, or that run at a compatible pace. So this? Meeting two more runners? It really and truly helps to have support and I was so incredibly thankful for having new friends to help me through the miles.

For me, it was a solid 18-mile run. So much better than my first 18-miler. I was able to finish the last couple of miles at a faster pace as well, so that was good for me mentally, knowing that I still had some oomph left. I almost went for another 20, but reeled myself in. So there you go, another 18 mile training run in the books.

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