9 Miles and Counting!

I just finished running 9 miles for the first time in my life! My running club group has been inching up a 1/2 mile each week and then after New Year's we began adding 1 mile a week. I'll get up to 11 miles two weeks before the 10 mile race I've been training for for almost 6 months.

It's amazing to go from having only run 3 miles to 10 in such a short time. I'd love to say that I feel great after this morning's run, but actually I feel the worst I've felt. Normally, my muscles aren't sore. I end up having to take a nap later in the afternoon and my left knee has to be iced, but no muscle pain. Today, I don't know what was different, but my body aches from top to bottom. At mile 7 I began asking myself, "Why do I want to run 10 miles again?"

Fortunately, my running buddies always keep me going. Within my group, I have about 7 ladies that I run with. Two are military spouses and the others we've picked up along the way because they run at our pace. It's so cool. Sometimes there are two men that run with us too, but they must have been feeling pretty energetic today because we never caught up with them. It interesting too, how we often switch leaders. One of my friends compared it to a flock of birds because someone who's been in the front often moves to the back and someone else picks up the lead.

The whole thing is an extremely rewarding experience. Running with other people working towards the same goal, is a great feeling. If there's a running club in your area, join it!