18 Feels So Good!

Yesterday's 18 mile long run was pretty much flawless! I was nervous after the 16 miler because I wasn't able to do it consecutively and I had a lot of pain. I had lost some confidence that I wouldn't be able to do the distance. Molly and I planned to run together and she found a route that covered a lot of the route of the Rochester Marathon. We were on the canal for a while but because of that it was relatively flat. Katie also decided to join us for a little bit more then half of the run and since we haven't seen each other in a while we had a lot of catching up to do.

We met at Fleet Feet at 8:30 and I picked Katie up since we would be close to her house and she could just run home. The weather was overcast and windy and a bit chilly. But it was pretty comfortable as long as we stayed moving. Most of the first part of the run was on East Ave heading towards Fairport and so we were on and off sidewalks and grass. Everything was going great, our pace was very comfortable and we were chatting away. Our first pit stop as at a Burger King so we could go to the bathroom and get some extra water for Camel Clancy (Molly) who now wears a Camelbak by the way, so she is legit!

Photos may be simulated.

Then we kept heading towards Fairport and jumped on the canal, right ahead of a lot of people participating in a walk for dislexia. I was worried that the canal would be pretty boring but there were plenty of other walkers and bikers to smile and say hello to.

Something like this! 

The canal was okay because it was sort of broken up into little chunks of landmarks that made it interesting and more manageable. When we got to Bushnell's Basin we said our goodbyes to Katie and I went into the Hess to grab another Gatorade.

It wasn't this busy. 

Molly and I jumped back on the canal and headed towards Pittsford, this time playing music out loud for a new distraction. We paused near the Great Embankment Park to stretch and to take more rocks out of my shoes. That is one of my biggest pet peeves with running on that portion of the canal because it isn't paved.

I always dress up for my long runs.

We got to the village of Pittsford and I took more rocks out of my shoes and texted Rob that we were still alive and had about 4 miles left. Molly and I were both in really good spirits still and aside from Molly's Garmin battery running on empty all was good! Earlier in the run I suggested that, since the original route was closer to 19 miles, and since the canal can get boring, we jump off the canal a bit earlier and head towards Fleet Feet via Clover. When we got to Clover I was in need of a short rest and stretch and Molly was trying to beat her Garmin's death so she kept continuing on.

I caught up to her at Monroe and we finished together! When we hit 18 miles or a little bit more, we decided to walk the rest to the store. We were both so smiley and happy at what we accomplished and when I thought about how much of Rochester and the suburbs we covered it was unbelievable. The weather held up and only sprinkled a couple drops of rain, our gear held up and aside from being pretty hungry at the end of it it was pretty perfect!! 

I was just so excited!