Saturday's 9 Miler...

...sorry if you're my friend on DM, this is a repeat. Well, the planned called for 9 miles today. I wasn’t sure where I was going to run this but then I ended up having to come in to work today so I figured I’d run from home to work which is 8.72 miles. I headed out and as soon as I got on the main road, I realized I’d forgotten my Ipod-crapola!!! I was going to call Mattie to meet me and bring it, but it’s his birthday so I didn’t want to bother him. Oh well, Indy doesn’t allow you to wear earphones so I might as well get used to it. I was cruisin’ right along and then the sidewalk ended so I just hugged the side of the road, no problem. I looked up and some guy was SCREAMING at me in his car pointing to the other side of the road where the sidewalk was. Umm…the sidewalk just ended, not at a stoplight or crossing section, I’m not in the middle of the road or slowing you down so what did you want me to do? Jaywalk and play Frogger with my life, umm…no thanks! I got to mile 3 and stopped my watch. I was meeting up with Holly for part of my run. She was sharing part of her birthday with me. Yes, Mattie and her have the same birthday. I was a little under 33 minutes at the 3 mile marker. I stretched while I waited then I looked up and saw a fellow runner that I knew in her car. Her kid pointed to me and she rolled down her window so I waved and the first thing she said, “Are you okay?” LOL-I was actually feeling pretty great! After the light turned, I saw Holly crossing over to me and we were dressed alike in our Truffle Shuffle shirts! I bet we just looked super cute running down the road. I think I slowed a bit with her because I was chatting, her hub and kids drove by and yelled at us-glad we were running when they saw us!!! She ran 2 miles with me then turned around to head back. Thanks for sharing your birthday run with me Holl-hope you have fun tonight! Around mile 5, when Holly and I split off, I felt my first running injury of the year: a giant blister on my left big toe. Yucko!!! Time to break out the BodyGlide. Also when I passed the Walgreen's, some guy had "Eye of the Tiger" blaring so that motivated my big butt to get up the hill! I then started the last half of my run on the busiest road in town: Highway K. This isn’t the first time I’ve run on this road; however, the last time was mid-July and I was sucking hard-core. Today’s run went MUCH better! I was cruising along trying to decide when I would be brave enough to cross Highway K then I got to the library a little after mile 6. The lady was looking the opposite way to see if anyone was coming and pulled out ALMOST HITTING ME! WTH!?! I, may or may not, have flipped her off. I KNOW, I KNOW!!! I’m ashamed to admit it and I know it’s not ladylike but it was just my reaction. Glad I was paying attention since she OBVIOUSLY wasn’t. Up ahead, I saw an accident on my side of the road and knew I’d have to brave it over. I crossed and I survived-whew! However, the last mile was really starting to get to me. I was out of water and SUPER THIRSTY! But I made it! I decided to listen to my DM friend Patrick, ugh…I hate when you men are right, and just push myself. I mean if I can run that fast on the t-mill, why not outside, right? And I beat my goal time (1:42)!!! Hopefully, I keep this up for the rest of my training and my races. I got to work and drank a huge glass of ice cold water. I felt kind of bad for the kids I was interviewing because I was so yucky. OH! Holly did call to let me know she survived her run home and that she had some smell-good stuff at her desk if I needed to borrow it. See-that’s what friends are for, to make sure you don’t stink!!! I worked WAY longer than I meant to and the whole time I was thinking, “Crap! I have to get going!!!” So I ended up having to rush around to get balloons and cake for my hubby’s birthday. So happy to have this done and even happier it went so well! Final stats: Mileage: 8.72 miles Total time: 1:41:33 Pace: 11:38/mile!!! Garmin for the Poor: Map out route. Write key mile markers and pace on your hand. Start stopwatch and run like the wind. Happy running ya'll!