10 mile run (or 11 or 12...it's hard to keep track when you're lost).

My 10-mile run was definitely my most adventurous yet. Saturday morning I awoke to thunder and lightning, but was surprised to find an email in my inbox that our run was not canceled. I was housesitting in West Lake, so it took me nearly 30 minutes (driving through a thunderstorm) to get to the 51st street where we were supposed to be meeting. Well, apparently everyone else had decided to ditch practice and I was the only one there. Though I was irritated I had driven so far, I was secretly thankful I wouldn't be running in the rain when it was 40 degrees outside.

One thing I've found out running this thing is that it is a billion times easier to run with a team than by myself - so though I was appreciative that I didn't have to run in the rain, the thought of running 10 miles by myself was a bit daunting.

I woke up Sunday morning with the task before me in mind. Since my sister was in town, there were many things I wanted to do that didn't involve running 10 miles. I woke up and ate breakfast around 9:30 then delayed starting my run until about 11:45. This was my first mistake. Those of you who have run long distances before know about carbo-loading. It is not good to start a 10-mile run on an empty or near empty stomach. Thankfully I had stopped by RunTex on my way to Town Lake and bought a couple of GU packets. I started running my usual trail, but planned to run the full trail around Town Lake, which is about 10.15 miles.

I realized I must have made a wrong turn when I found myself literally running along IH-35. This was not a good feeling, considering 35 is a terrifying highway to be on in a car let alone on foot. So I make my first turn around to get back to the nearest street that is not a major highway. Thus I find myself on Riverside... and about 15 minutes later on East Riverside, which as you Austinites know, is not the safest part of town. Turning around again, I finally stop at a gas station and get directions back to the trail. Great!! I'm back on track....until I realize that I have run out of water. Again, I go off the trail and on to the street. I'm on Cesar Chavez, again not in the best area of town and am having difficulty finding a gas station that is not boarded up. I eventually give up and head back to the trail, only to find that if I would have kept running for oh, about 30 feet, I would have come to a water fountain. Blurg.

I've been running at this point for about an hour and a half and realize I still have about 5 miles to go to get back to my car. See, this is the trick to running long distances - don't bring a phone and run really far away from your car while you're still feeling slightly energized... and then when you want to quit and give up, you have no choice but to run back to your car.

In all, I ran for about 2 hours and 10 minutes before I suddenly started feeling like I was dying. I think I had run well over 10 miles (I hope I'm not THAT slow) and decided to walk the last mile to my car. At this point, I'm starving (these runs make me hungrier than I've ever been - and that's saying a lot). I am literally taking breaks sitting on benches during the last twenty minutes because I feel like I'm going to pass out. I finally get to my car, drive straight to Jason's Deli, and then eat more than anyone ever should. I'm not even going to begin talking about the ice bath I took a couple of hours later..

Though this run wasn't the most uplifting for someone who's ultimate goal is to run 26.2 miles, I did learn a lot and will hopefully not make some of the same mistakes twice.

Lessons learned on this run:

1. Eat a good breakfast before I start.

2. Look at a map before I begin.

3. Bring plenty of GU, in case I need to refuel.

4. Fill up my water bottle every chance I get even if it's not empty so I don't ever run out.

As far as fundraising goes, I have raised $3,250!! I mailed a batch of checks to the LLS today, so my website should be updated in a week or two. I'm having a car wash in Longview over Easter break, so hopefully that will bring in a couple hundred dollars. Also, my sister, Abby, is having a garage sale to raise money for LLS!! Now that I'm pretty sure I will be able to raise my original goal of $3,500, I would like to go above that about $500 to $1000 or whatever I can do for this great organization!

This is a long and disorganized post, but I hope some of you found it interesting! Thank you for all the encouragement and stories along the way that remind me that I'm running for a great cause!

Yours,

Lisa