My first 15K.

Yesterday I (sort of) ran 9.3 miles. It Europe, that equates to 15 kilometers. I like to say 15K because it sounds farther and more impressive. I say it in my head like that too. Point. What was it again? Oh, I remember. I ran this one alone. Granted, there were about 200 other runners there too, but it was the first run that I did not have a friend with me. The first one was with Marla, the second with Matt, Bill, and Elena. I have to admit, I was pretty lonely by myself. Though the half-marathon was supposed to be a family affair, a series of events caused Nick and Marla to change their plans. For some reason, training for a half-marathon takes time and some serious conditioning. I don't know why.

Anyway, back to the point. Towards the end of the 15K (see what I did there?), a couple of older ladies came up even with me. I was tired. I was coughing. I slowed to a walk. The ladies weren't having any of it. Instead, they told me that I had better not let a couple of old ladies beat me. To be honest, I didn't care if I came in last. At that point, I just wanted to be done. So they would stop teasing me, I kept running. Plodding along with my leg muscles burning, I kept at it. The ladies talked constantly. They hollered out encouragement and talked about what they were going to eat when they got to the finish line. For me, after I run I don't even want to think about food. I just want water. Cold, cold water. Their food talk made me want to gag. With about a half a mile left I decided that vomiting was the last thing I needed to do so I sped up. The ladies were so excited about that, they hollered and whistled at me. I kind of felt like a well-performing horse. Well, a cow really after all my plodding. But farm animals aside, I crossed the finish line in 1:48:23. I was so so excited. My goal was to finish in under two hours and I did it. My goal for the half is under 3 hours. My finish time in the 15K was right on track. Now, I just have to run more, walk less, and get a few more miles under my belt and I'll be ready. I'm almost there. No really, it is 27 days away. Between now and then, I have to 243 miles to travel. Nope Judith, I'm not following ole Hal's plan. I call this one "Tara's Big Running Program." The subtitle is "So I won't die." I'm looking forward to it.