a stream of consciousness blog about my run today...

Disclaimer: I am so tired right now, I'm not sure how much sense this post is going to make.  But, I feel that because I am starting my new job tomorrow (did I mention that I am going to be working in development at Dana Farber now? No? Well, I am) and on the job blogging is probably frowned upon, especially in your first week, I need to do my blogging now, while things are fresh in my mind.  So here we go...

Guess what I did today?  I can only imagine what you are guessing right now; "went shopping!" "baked cookies!" "watched TV shows on your computer!" (I have cable now by the way, so hopefully we'll be breaking this habit soon), "ate a lot!" "bought a new pair of jeans!"  Well, my friends, you are all wrong (with the exception of "ate a lot," that actually happened too... but that's not what I'm referring to, and that's not really news, I do that all of the time).  What is news is that I, Lauren Krzynowek, ran 18 miles!!!  18 miles! Can you believe it?!?

I think I've mentioned before that I have not always particularly enjoyed running.  All the way up through high school I actually loathed it.  I was athletic and played three sports, but I HATED running any more than a mile at a given time (my coaches will all attest to this).  When I started college I still hated running, but I quickly found out that if I wasn't going to be playing any sports I had better get my butt on a treadmill or out on the track if I wanted to keep wearing my prized jeans collection.  Even then, running wasn't something I did because I enjoyed it, and I certainly was not interested in running any sort of crazy distances.  I actually vividly remember the first time I ran more than 2 miles.  This accomplishment was so great that I excitedly called home to report my success to my parents almost immediately after getting off of the treadmill.  Who would have ever thought that that same girl would be going on 18 mile runs and then living to blog about it?

To be honest, after I had finished the first 14 miles, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to push through the last 4 and finish the whole run.  I found myself at the top of heartbreak hill seriously debating walking back to Woodland (our starting point), or even worse, walking over to the T in Newton Centre and taking the T back to the car.  The last water stop today was just before the bottom of the hill I was standing on, and as I ran away from it the first time Jack (our coach) and Tyler (fellow DFMC runner) told me that they would leave a water bottle for me because they were going to start packing up the water stop (I was waaaaaay behind most of the other runners at this point because I took a little detour in Newton).  This water stop situation only contributed to my lack of motivation to finish my run.  So, I decided to at least run down the hill and get to the water bottle left for me and then decide what to do.  I ran to the water stop and there was Tyler, holding a water bottle with the perfect half and half mixture of gatorade and water.  I could have cried at the sight of him (I was too tired for any such outpouring of emotion).  Here he was, waiting in the cold for me after doing his own 20 mile run.  It gave me just the boost I needed to continue on.  About a mile later, there he was again... my own personal water stop!  I took another swig of gatorade and assured him I would make it the next two miles to Woodland.  The last two miles flew by and next thing I knew, I was back at our starting point.

The moral of the story?  Running by yourself is great and all, but a few simple words of encouragement and a bottle of gatorade from a friend can make all the difference between a mediocre 14 mile run on your own and an incredibly empowering 18 miler.  Thanks, Tyler!

In other news, despite the fact that I am very tired, for the first time in the history of my long runs, I did not take a 3-4 hour nap today! More progress!  Bring on the 20 miler!