Holy Heavens. This was the best of times and the worst of times. My mom took Adam for me so that I could meet Becca at the Legacy Parkway and do a long run together while she was in town for her BIL wedding. I was SO excited to run with Becca!! It was SO good to see her and have her back.
We had a great chat and run. The only problem was there were NO water stops along the parkway. Yes, it is flat, but it is exposed and next to the free-way. Not my favorite. We ran to a gas station in Centerville to refil water around mile 8. Crossing the freeway interchange was exciting! blech.
Both Becca and I were starting to lose it around half way. Well, at least I was. I was done. But, I knew I had a GU and at 11 we turned and headed back. I could do this. It was cloudy and cool. Only 9. Those Nine took FOREVER! I was draging and it was a huge mental feat to keep moving. We pawned some water off a guy starting his run. We asked if he knew of any water stops and he said no, but had some water in his car and refilled our bottles. We went through that too quickly and luckily we found a park a few miles down the trail. My back was killing me. I don't know why. It hasn't ever done that before!! I sat on a park bench and drank some water. I really didn't want to finish, but knew I needed to.
With just one mile left to go we stopped the last time. I sat on the bench on the side of the trail. My mind was more than willing to push on, but my body was just done. I think my fuel was just more than empty. It is a good thing I had to get back to the car and quickly to deal with kids and meeting Craig at home as he FINALLY came home after being gone for a month. Becca and I were so done that despite being a half mile from the cars once we hit 20 we stopped and walked :) Despite being done I was pleasantly surprised at our AP. When I turned at mile 11 we were at 8:24 and at the finish we were at 8:27. That really surprised me.
We went to 7-11 afterward and got our traditional slurpees. As soon as the sugar hit my mouth I got giddy! It felt SO good to have FUEL. Yup. I was low. I had my slurpee and a chocolate milk and on the way home started feeeling much better. Train low and race high, right? It was hard to say good-bye to Becca. I know it will be a long time until she comes back to Utah, but hopefully I can go visit her in TX and we can hang out there. I'll need a winter escape!!
AP: 8:27 splits: 8:27, 8:22, 8:16, 8:24, 8:19, 8:11, 8:20, 8:47, 8:24, 8:35, 8:26, 8:39, 8:30, 8:14, 8:22, 8:34, 8:28, 8:27, 8:47, 8:34. We must just like a nice 8:20-8:30 pace :)
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