Cheering Squads

103 Days to Portland, 201 Days to Houston

That's right! I found out today I'm going to run the Chevron Houston Marathon too. I entered the lottery earlier this month and wasn't really sure whether or not I really wanted to get in. I did. Guess I have to run it now, huh? I may seriously regret this decision once I've run one marathon, but I think I'm going to enjoy running a local race and having a cheering squad. I might have one in Portland as well--I don't know what my family up there plans to do, but I know I'll have local support.  My mother (who works the same place I do) put balloons on my office door this afternoon.  Makes it a little difficult to shut the door but I still think it is so cool I'm not taking them down.

Last night I ran 10 miles. I stuffed my mailbox with four bottles of water and headed out at about 7 pm.  I was soaked through before the end of a mile. I was doing a good job of pacing myself and forcing myself to drink every five minutes or so, but I was still exhausted. My sister showed up at around mile 5 or 6 with her kids. They handed me water and cheered for me. My nephew told me that I was running "super fast".  My sister also told me that she overheard a little girl wondering how many times I was going to run past her.  Once it got too dark I came inside and finished on my treadmill. I would have kept going outside but I'd forgotten to put my headlamp outside--not that there was room in the mailbox for it.

This was my first run in this training program where I decided to carry and consume an energy gel.  I actually tried Chocolate Mint by Gu. I heard about it on the Two Gomers podcast. It wasn't too bad, actually. I don't know if it was the flavor or the brand that made it better than the ones I used when I was training for a half marathon. It could also be that, because of the heat, the Gu wasn't quite as thick as the ones I was using earlier this year. Who knows? All I do know is that gels in general are gross but necessary.  I certainly felt like it gave me enough energy to finish the run.