Believe to Achieve

I woke up suddenly at 330am (crud only 5 hours!!) after drifting to sleep some time after 1015pm when I was struggling due to sinus congestion to fall asleep.  After that, for the life of me  I could not fall back to sleep.   I had gotten up to get a drink of water and felt too alert so  I looked on my mail to see if my cousin from Massacusetts wrote me back.  And she did.  Well that got me wired up and excited to see them.  They have several places lined up for me to stay-- Condo in NH, house right outside of Hopkinton (Boston Marathon start) etc....And then I just could not fall asleep.  It was ridiculous.  I wasn't really thinking about my 18 miler because I knew I could run slow and be in GREAT company.  So by the time I left my door at 7am I felt a bit fatigued wishing I could skip the run.  But luckily I had called Rachelle last night to have her join me in my car.  We met at Target in AF.  There was no bailing.   We got up there and there were over 25 runners there I think.  Kind of like we were starting the race that day.  We lined up at the Riverton Half and then just trotted (some of us "sprinted")off to run the course.  Quite the hilly one.  No wind today however so that was a bonus.  But it was 23 degrees, but felt like 17 due to humidity.  My fingers were numb they were so frozen.  Not fun.  My legs were quite stiff the first 4 miles and then due to wearing my Altras on my first long run my hamstrings and lower back kept me honest at a good for me long run pace.  I decided against running the last four fast because I am sick and because my back/hamstrings would be injured if I did.  I never felt winded and kept it real easy.  Aerobically I felt terrific.  My brain is still fuzzy.  This sinus issue is a drag.  I did suck on one Halls cough drop to see if that helped.  Not much.  Took one Gu at mile 10.  No water til 13.1 miles.  Waited around for about 10 minutes before we started the last 5 miles of our run.  I got to run with Kelli finally. She stayed back on the first 13 to help a newcomer out.  Kelli and I need to train together.  I think we could get each other where we want to be.  We are the same pace taking it easy and speeding up so I think that it would be wise.  I am writing this to make Kelli WANT to train with me :D.    I think toning it down in long runs and and easy runs will help me overall to reach that subthree.  Took a long hot shower.  My feet bottoms were pale white for a while there.  I am very much in need of a nap today because of my very short sleep cycle last night.  Hoping taking it easy today pays off.     AP for 18.06 miles = 8:12.  Ran first 13.1 at 8:07 with Rachelle  so the last five were nice and relaxing with Kelli.  The long break made me feel less into it the last five but I still felt fine.