Sunday, September 12, 2010

I ran 15 miles-- huge milestone for me

I ran 15 miles today. FIFTEEN! By far, the longest run I have ever ran.

By the 12th mile, I started to hurt. I tend to waddle by that length of time.... moving left and right as i run forward.
I wasn't planning on running 15. Only 12.

(ha! O N L Y twelve).

But. Heidi called me last night just before i was headed for bed and said, "ya wanna run 17 miles tomorrow?"

"Seventeeeeeeen!?!??!"


She asked me while I was in North Carolina last week if I would be her running partner to train for a full marathon. I didn't think much about it and said, "yeah, sure! maybe!" But... more than a week later and nothing had progressed, I started not to take that offer seriously. And I actually started to feel relieved.

I only ran five miles while on vacation. The week before I think I ran maybe seven miles between two separate runs. The week before that, maybe only four. I have been negligent and it shows in my speed and how it feels in my body while running.


But this morning I ran.


We ran from downtown Sebastopol to Graton and back.... but we also ran around downtown first.

We planned on running seventeen miles, and it could have happened if not for us noticeably slowing down our run in this neighborhood as we soaked in all this wonderful metal sculptures in every single yard!


It's incredible.


We laughed. We sighed.
We imagined ourselves making these.
We took in deep breaths.
We stared. We marveled.

We longed. We wished. We loved.

The street is called Florence Street in downtown Sebastopol, CA.


Hardly not my best run. But by the time I made the finish stretch, it felt good that i had accomplished this milestone.

I now need to work on my speed.

The race is less than a month away and now my game is on.

5 comments:

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

That would make a fun run - seeing all of the creative yard decor. Yay for your longest run!

danny said...

That was absolutely amazing you ran fifteeen miles! Way to go Shawn!...and those sculptures, wow! I'd love to see those in person...never knew they existed! Thanks for sharing these!

Christine said...

Wow! Way to go!!
A full marathon? You can do it!!

That garden art is awesome, although I'm not so sure I'd like to see it out my window everyday if I lived next door or across the street! LOL!

Unknown said...

I'd love to see those sculptures in my neighborhood!

doodlegirl said...

There is one street in a neighborhood where every single home has this garden art in their front yard. I think the artist donated it to each neighbor. It's sorta like Christmas Tree Lane but only it's Garden Art Lane.