Over the Top!

In my "don't let one thought discourage you out of something forever" moment of the day, follow this ... Yesterday afternoon, I was all about today's run. By the evening, I wasn't just all about it, I was really quite excited! In fact, I was so excited to run double digits that I started thinking about how to maintain such weekend mileage for most of the rest of the year (that'll make more sense another day when I figure out how much of that is real and how much is great-idea-not-happening). At 5 a.m., when I wanted to get up at 6 a.m., I was awake just long enough to have no desire to run. At 6 a.m., this long run felt like it was the worst idea ever. I even asked Aaron to run it for me (he declined). By 6:30 a.m. when I started, the idea swung back around to feeling like a fabulous idea. And, there you have it inside of 12 hours ... the running roller coaster! Sometimes you want on, sometimes you want off!

Clearly, I got on and went for the ride today! Hey, you want to know what was super-cool within the first half mile of this run? First of all, Elly did her obligatory biz, and I found a garbage bag to put it in so I wouldn't have to carry it! WAHOO!! (No such luck with her repeat performance a mile later, but I take what I get when I get it!) AND, I found a dime in that same distance!! I knew that made me that much closer to $9.00 for the Food Bank as I started the day with $8.83 ... was I going to get it over the top?!

That remained to be seen, but, in the meantime of looking down to find money, I looked up to see today's Weed Of the Day!

Okay, I'm not even sure if it's technically
a weed. Given where it was growing, it
is totally a weed. AND it's taller than I!
That's one weird weed!

I had actually assumed I wouldn't see anything very different today; changing my point of view certainly took care of that!

Elly and I cruised our first four miles with nooooo problem. Oh, the difference a drop in temperature and humidity makes!! When we set sail, it was only 63 degrees!!! (whuuuuuuut ?!?) It was crazy-fabulous and made for a very nice run!

The temp hadn't changed much by the time I swung home and tag-teamed running partners. Pit Crew #2 was all ready to go, so we grabbed water bottles and took off! This was her first go at 7 miles, so I reminded her from the get-go that we were going to start off quite slow and find our pace as we went. It's important to do that no matter how far we're going so as not to burn all of your energy right out of the gate, but it's double important (to me, at least) when you're not sure how a new distance is going to feel. I'm just a mom trying to impart some wisdom. Or, at least a plan. Or, at least a reason that I'm slower than she at the start. Ha!

Even though the temp felt nice, it was even nicer to come across a really long line of sprinklers!!

Unexpected sprinkler action!! Yahoo!!!

Okay, so in another couple of miles, we get to a few yards away from a pretty righteous hill (one even she doesn't call "little" ... remember that noise?) when I checked in with her with the following exchange:
Me: When we get to that hill, do you want to run it or walk it?
PC#2: I'm fine. We can run it. Can you run it?
Me: I can run it.
PC#2: But, what do you want to do? You've been running longer.
Me: I want to walk it. So, we'll just have to see if I bail.

Spoiler alert: I didn't bail. But, upon hitting the top, I called an immediate water-walk break, and I thoroughly enjoyed every sip and step! Truth be told, so did PC#2. She's wrapped up in the finish, not the form!

I routed us through my favorite go-to Drive-Thru to scope money and found a very disappointing zero, but at another, we found a penny to add to another dime I'd already found (and to two I found before finishing). That's right ... today took me over the $9 mark!!! YAHOO!!! And, there's still four months to go before donation day!!!

This route also took us by a welcomed gas station where we not only refilled our water bottles ...

Mmmm ... very cold water ... freezes my hand for a while in
the water bottle but totally worth it ...

... but, it is here where we heard a woman going nutty on her phone. It went like this: "You'd better get over here because your son locked himself in my car!" (The kid couldn't have been much older than two, and he was being quite the little monkey in the car. Funny but not all at the same time! It's just not something you come across every day! I have no idea how long it took to unlock that car; we figured we should just get on our way ...)

Our water refill was a good call especially as we quite decidedly picked up pace for the last few miles. That can happen when there's no humidity! I congratulated PC#2 somewhere between miles 6 and 7 for going her farthest distance yet even though I wasn't really sure when she actually passed mile 6 ... whoops. It was probably pretty unceremonious as I suddenly said, "Hey, you've now gone farther than you ever have. I really don't know where that happened, but you did." Frankly, PC#2 seemed very pleased with the acknowledgement even without any fanfare! (Fanfare ... anyone else remember we got prizes last week for running fewer miles? JUST SAYIN'. hee hee) And, with 23 cents and half a water bottle left to enjoy on the cool-down walk, we finished with smiles on ...

Whee!! It was a most-miles run for PC#2!

... and, we came home to a puppy who was all ready to have a seat for her finisher's picture!

"You can't forget me, mommy!! I went,
too! Remember?!"

"I shall now look longingly into the
distance ..."

With 18 miles between us this morning, that is a wrap!! Our runs together aren't perfect as we continue to iron out a wrinkle here and there (we're only human), but I am having a lot of fun running with my girl! More of that to come on Monday's scheduled run, but, before then, it's Rest Day! We will see you then!