it's a good day to be a mother

I ran 18 miles today.

Ok, so I walked/ran 18 miles today - my longest run to date!!  I decided to do a run 10 minutes/walk 1 minute plan to try to keep my hip happy and, frankly, I thought it would increase my chances of finishing this run.

The Husband.  Cute, ain't he?

The husband, aka my roadie, went along for the ride.  Literally.  He biked alongside me for the entire 18 miles, refilled my water bottles that fit on my STUPID fuel belt (which really must be replaced - I hate it. But I digress), and he kept my supplies of GU and honey(badger) stingers at the ready.  Having him with me, encouraging me, supporting me and making me laugh got me through a rather tough run.  I can't even imagine how incredibly boring it must have been for him to pedal s-l-o-w-l-y along the trail for 3.5 hours while I shuffled to my 18 mile goal.  He's amazing.  Damn, I'm lucky!

So.  The run.
I felt great for the first 10 miles and my pacing was right around 10:40 minute miles.  Then the hip started to complain and really became a major pain in the ass after about 13 miles.  I ended up walking more than running for the last 5 miles due to the pain, but finished relatively strong by running the last mile in about 11 minutes.  My overall pace when all was said and done was 12:00 miles.  I'll take it!

Once home, I got some pretty great gifts from the kids and then took an 18 minute ice bath (one minute for every mile!) and I'm feeling pretty good tonight for the most part, although tired.

The husband continued to go above and beyond - he made yet another fabulous dinner (cooked while I took a little nap) and then he did the dishes.  How did I ever land this guy??

Happy Day to all the Mothers out there!