Half the miles, double the fun!

I had a wonderful run yesterday. We were doing a 10-mile recovery run between last Saturday's 18 (more on that later) and next Saturday’s 20. The weather was surprisingly chilly, and it took a while to get warmed up, but once we got going it was just a glorious morning. The course was new to me – we followed the Custis Trail (pictured) along Arlington’s I-66, stopped for water and Gatorade near the Italian Store, continued up to Rosslyn and looped back on Lee Highway to try out the Marine Corps Marathon’s big hill. (It’s a wussy hill – I expect better from SF!) We did the loop 2.5 times, but the hills and new scenery kept it interesting, the crisp fall weather kept me feeling fresh, and for the first long run in a while, I had no hip or knee issues.

This Saturday provided a burst of confidence that I’ll need going into the 20 mile run. Everyone had a pretty crummy 18 because it was horribly hot and humid, and the water stops were too few and far between. I walked a lot because my hip started hurting early on, but Dad claims that it doesn’t matter – you’re still getting your body used to the mileage. I also missed the turn-around, so I actually did 19 miles. So what’s another mile, especially given how great I felt yesterday? I’ll just keep deluding myself until Friday night when I start panicking.