I can’t believe I made it over the hump, and now we’re on the downhill.  If you count three ridiculously long runs left “downhill,” anyway.

This week was my highest mileage yet, but the long run was a manageable 13 miles. Which meant I had long runs every other day of the week, too.

The schedule:

• Monday: rest
• Tuesday: 5 miles
• Wednesday: 8 miles
• Thursday: 5 miles
• Friday: rest
• Saturday:  supposed to be 18 miles (but we switched)
• Sunday: cross train

Ginger left mid-week for a wedding in Costa Rica (I know, right?), so she did her first 5 on Monday and then I met her for our 8 miles on Tuesday.  Running with a friend is so much better than running alone – I don’t mind changing up my pace, my schedule, my anything if it means I can fill that time with conversation.

The weather this week took a turn for the better too – which has been awesome.  Last Sunday’s rain was created by the passing of the season’s first cold front, effectively dropping the overnight temps from low 80s to mid 70s.  Sure, it’s still warm and humid, but those few degree make an actual huge difference in my perceived effort.  Every little bit helps.

Wednesday, I met a friend who’s training for her first half (she’ll be running with us in Savannah) for a 5 miler.  It was her longest distance yet, and the only time I’d run with her previously, she had a hard time finishing 2 miles.  So, this was awesome.  She’s been working really hard and she ran the entire 5 miles like a boss.

On Thursday, I convinced a neighborslashfriendslashbusinesspartner to get up at buttcrack with me and run my second 5 miler.  He’s training for the Tough Mudder in December and knows he needs to add more endurance training to his regimen.  Despite not having run for three weeks, and not having run before that at all, he trucked through 5 miles like nobody’s business.  Impressive.

Friday, I took a much needed rest day and slept in ’til 7.  SEVEN.  A full 9 hours of sleep.  Adam has told me a few times over the past few weeks that I look tired – and I think the early mornings are starting to catch up with me.  I feel okay, but I definitely look tired.

Saturday, Adam and I were excited to enjoy a leisurely, manageable 13 miles.  I can’t believe that I’m thinking 13 miles is short now, but I am.  And it’s awesome.  We did our usual 8 mile loop and made a huge point of running as slow as possible – around an 11 minute mile.  We want to try that pace for our 18, 19, 20 milers so that we’re not out of steam at the end again like the 17 miler.

Since it was just the two of us this week, I was able to make Adam stop when I wanted to take ridiculous pics, and we flew through our fuel breaks.

It was a gorgeous sunrise, again.

The first 8 went so smoothly and we were feeling so energetic that for the next 5, we just ran our normal pace – which brought our average down considerably.  I started to get a little soreness in the balls of my feet around mile 11, so I stretched them out really good and kept on running.  I’m not sure what causes that, but I had the same pain on our 15 mile run too.  The balls of my feet start burning.  I stretch them out and they’re fine for about a half mile, then it starts again.

The weather was fantastic – a little cooler than usual for the start, mildly cloudy near the finish and just slightly warmer than when we’d started.  We felt great.

It was a great week overall, and I needed it, badly.

Next week we move on to 18 miles.  This next three weeks are by far our hardest and most grueling, so your words of encouragement are very much appreciated.  I think I’m over the hump of exhaustion – I’ve found a new wind of motivation and I’m excited to get through this training program and finish this race.  I’m ready.