When I first got the crazy notion of running a full marathon, I knew that running 20 miles for the longest run during training was going to ultimately happen at some point. I jokingly called this week "Hell Week" because it was the most miles I had ever ran in one week in my entire running experience. 5 miles on Tuesday, 10 miles on Thursday, and the dreaded 20 miles on Saturday. 35 miles in one week. Most people don't run 35 miles in their entire life! I knew going into this week, I had to remain focused and mentally ready to take on the miles and gain the confidence I needed to know I could finish a full marathon in less than 4 weeks.

Jeremy and I joked all week and and asked each other over and over "Why are we doing this again?" I think humor and laughing is the approach we've always used to get through the tough weeks. If we can't laugh about going out and spending our Saturday running for more than 3 hours, then what can you laugh at right? The week of course flew by, and Saturday was here before we knew it. We had planned to meet at 6 am so we could get an early start. The weather had other plans for us unfortunately. I had coursed out a run from Belton all the way through Peculiar and into Harrisonville- totaling 20 miles of almost all black-top. We decided to do something a little different this time, and instead of looping around or going out 10 miles and coming back, we decided to park his Truck in Harrisonville and drive back to our starting location in Belton where my car was parked. Since Saturday's cold wind and rain caused us to cancel, we knew that we had to rely on Sunday's break in weather to get the run in.

Woke up Sunday morning to rain, and by about 11 am, I texted Jeremy and told him that we just needed to get the run over with despite the rain. He agreed. Somehow we ended up having the rain completely stop during our entire run! I couldn't believe it. The weather we've had to deal with for our training has been less than ideal. The course was pretty flat with some gradual hills. We kept under a 9 minute mile pace until about mile 14-17 where we both agreed we kinda hit a wall and our shoulders were heavy, our form was getting sloppy, and of course we were getting pretty tired. We ended up finishing our 20 mile run in 3:09- about a 9:20 minute mile pace. I was more than happy with this time and felt that if we could go out on a whim and run 20 miles, just think how well we are going to do come race day. Running and finishing the 20 mile run gave us both a sense of real confidence that while we knew would still have 6.2 miles to go in San Diego, by making it this far, another 6.2 miles, while mentally tough, will be achievable.

Due to the weekend weather, I think we both thought that our sand vb games would be canceled for that evening, but with the rain stopping early on Sunday, volleyball was still on! We got back to Belton around 4:00 and had to each rush home, eat, shower, and change, and turn around to go play vb. At first, I wasn't ideal on playing, but after getting out there and stretching and constantly moving, I think it was the best thing we could've done. While our legs felt heavy, we played really well!

Now that HELL WEEK is over, I am looking forward to the tapering process and continuing to mentally prepare to finish my first marathon. I am looking forward to the day, the afternoon of June 6th, where I can officially be called a true "marathon runner."