20 DONE! WOOOWHOOOOO!

woke up at 356am.
tired.
but getting ready to go
more after I am done.

do you see the pony tail holders on my wrist? that is how I kept track of my laps.. 10 holders  for each lap of 2 miles... when I finished a lap.. i moved a holder from one wrist to the other... It was a great visual of my progress! :) esp when there were only 3 or 2 left! wooowhooo

 
10:47 am.
I just finished breakfast, my ice bath and shower and am sitting here not believing that I actually did it!!!!!

I DID IT

I stayed up later than I planned.. but as I was going to sleep.. I thought... 5 hours of sleep is enough.. I can do this on 5 hours of sleep! I will take a nap after I am done. :) 

when my alarm went off at 3:55ish.. I was like .... URGH.... not time already. but made myself get up out of bed. 

I didnt leave the house until 440 or so... I really had to wake up.... had to find socks (forgot to do that last night)

It was DARK but the Moon was awesome! with a little patch of clouds around it.. it was full and looked like someone had just painted it up there! 

There were a few cars out.. but soon i was alllll by myself.. i kept saying "me and my shadow.. my shadow and me" :)......I took Joshas advice (which she sent me last night: 

"Hey!
Just wanted to share this.  Galloway says in his book to take your walk breaks early, before you feel like you need them.  Start off with walk breaks so that when you reach the end of that long run, you can run strong.  He says that he never hits that "wall" when he takes walk breaks from the beginning of his run and ends up with a better time and fresher legs.  ????
Tomorrow, huh?  Cheering for you!" 

So thats what I did. I walked a lot more in the beginning... than I did when i did the 18 miler. I really had to MAKE myself slow down and take walking breaks.....but it seemed to have worked great! I ended up averaging 11.25 mins a mile....which is a great improvement over 12.22 mins a mile on the 18 miler :) 

Here I am before I left :) 

 

wow.. it was EARLY!

so here are the "high points!"--- things I really enjoyed and am thankful for :)

• The moon, the cloud cover, the little frog that jump into the pond as I ran by, being alone, the quiet.. (i ran a while with NO music :) 
• The dog I almost ran into .. it was a labradoddle.. black and sooooo cute. 
• The first two runners I saw...right after 5am. Its interesting how you feel a bond with those people and dont even know their names!
• The restrooms at the track.. where it seems like its always open...I am thankful i had to stop often cause it meant I was keeping my fluid intake up like it should be :)
  
• Saying HI to all the runners and walkers
• The old man with his two little dogs (I always see him.. and he NEVER smiles.. but his little dogs are sooo cute that I know although he pretends to be tough he talks to them in a baby voice when he gets home :) tehehe
• The text messages I got :) that was really fun. thanks for the encouragement
• My baggie of "honey bunches of oats", water, and gatoraid :) 
• My sister... who stopped on her way to work to cheer me on!
• My mom.. who I stopped and hugged as she was walking with a friend, .. she said "you doing 16 miles today?" I said.. NOPE.. 20!... only 7 more to go.... she said "oh .. wow! .. I said "love you mom".. love you Ruthie" ..... atleast I think we said that.. it might have been unspoken though :)
• As I was left with only 7 miles to go .. the campus was beginning to buzz with activity. The maintenance guys were showing up and working on different things, the staff and students were driving up and walking across campus. I went passed the pond and looked up and saw COACH! .. Coach Art is the kids running coach and a great runner from Burundi. I had to look up really high cause he was in a cherry picker working on a light by the sidewalk :)  ... He asked "how many left?" I said "seven" and he said "your doing good.. keep going!!!"......He was such an encouragement to me :) knowing he would be working in that area next time i came around made me want to keep running :) I passed him with 5 miles left.. he was on the ground this time LOL.. he gave me a high five and I said "coach.. I am so tired!" .. he just said "you can doing it! you are doing it! keep going!" .. so i did. (THANKS Coach!)
• As far as miles.. they were all pretty much the same.. with the exception of mile 11.. just had to walk more of that one......but the rest of the last half wasnt too bad. At that point i was just happy to be halfway done and just really wanted to be done. 
• I loved my hat... and found I dont like wearing my sunglasses if i have my hat on :) only ran 2 miles with my glasses on :) 
• The text message I got from my sweet husband that said "its only 2 more laps.. that should be easy for you!" ... it made me cry! His encouragement helped me really focus and realize it WAS only 2more laps.. I have done it a 1000 times.. and I can do it again! (love you honey)
  

Some things I could have done without:

• the garbage truck (again).. loud and stinky
• The girl who seemed really put off that she had to stop for me as i crossed the street.. I wanted to stop and tell her "hey.. be nice!.. i am on my 18th freakin mile here!"
• The guy who was running with a girl who had on shorts that were WAY too big. You know how they wear them too big and their underwear shows? well this guys were WAY to big.. and I just knew he was going to loose them all the way to the ground.. but thank the goodness THAT didnt happen.. they would just go mid thigh and he would pull them back up. (i just dont understand this fashion)
• The dog I thought was going to pee on my sack of food :) 
• almost running into an "super" runner.. he was lean, mean, and fast.. and ran fast for a long time... I almost ran into him! head on!... I said .. Sorry!.. but then wondered if I actually YELLED IT  cause i Had my headphones on. 
• my hamstrings getting tight :(

so.. do you think it is OK to cry during a 20 mile run? I hope it is.. cause I did 3 times today.. short of kinda loosing it... I cried the longest and hardest when Joshas song came one "Miracle of the Moment" came on! "would I really want to go and change everything?"(having to wait a whole nother year to get to this point?) "this is the only moment I can do anything about!" "experience this wonder!" "dont miss the miracle of THIS moment!" I am letting go of all of our "IF ONLIES!" :)



OK
so now for some pictures :)

 

Just after! Tired but hhhhhhaaappppy :)

  

  

Ice bath rocks! the hardest part is getting in.. I can not doing it without yelling :) ha

 

Just loving my feet and the fact they can go that far! After all the foot problems i had... I just had to say 'celebrate feet' cause they rock :) 

And I leave you.. with a short video that my daughter took of me.... I didnt know she was recording!!! (dont worry.. I am in the bath.. but I am fully dressed :) 

I am sooo happy I am done! Now to rest and eat right for the next three weeks to be ready. I cant imagine adding 6 more miles to this! yikes ! 

thank you all sooooo much for your encouragement! it makes such a HUGE difference!