11 is a big number, right?

I ran 11 miles today! The longest I've ever run, and I'm a little stiff but feeling pretty good, especially since I did it in 2 hours. On a related note, can you believe I ran for two hours straight? Ok, I took a few walk breaks because man it is hard to run and try to get at your water bottle and whatever food you are trying to fuel with. But still! I remember back in August reading my friend Jen's blog post about her lovely hour-long run along the Boston Waterfront and I wished I could get there someday. Having a goal and a plan and people to keep you accountable really works!

I didn't post about our team run last week, so apologies if you were hoping for that update. We rested a little and only did 6, and we ran them on part of the marathon course. We started at Hayward Field and ran up Amazon Parkway and back, then up the dreaded 19th Street hills. Those hills are rough - just when you think it's done there is another one staring you in the face! But as they say, hills are your friends because they shift the stress to different muscles and give your flat-running muscles a little rest. Or that is what I am going to keep telling myself as I struggle up them!

And in fundraising news, I MADE IT TO ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!! In fact, I'm at $1,058 and change right now - that's 53% of the way to my goal and over 70% to the minimum I have to raise! Thanks to Jennifer Klementis, Yi Wu, Emmalee Kearney, and Stephanie Silani for donating to help me smash the $1,000 milestone. If you want to be next to get a shout out on this blog, you can donate online here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/eugene12/rvarner

AND IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS... Next weekend is my half-marathon debut! Hale and I are running the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon Sunday the 6th. I am so excited to take a mini-vacation, push myself two extra miles, and visit Hale, who is one of my running inspirations. This girl ran a half marathon while we were in college, got in an ice bath, and then made it all the way across campus to load a bus to go to a marching band competition, all between the hours of 7am and noon. What a monster! So wish us luck next Sunday!

My bib and chip timer - can't wait to get out there!

I saw on a t-shirt something that helps me get out of bed to go for my 6am runs, especially if I can hear the rain on my windows: If it ain't rainin', we ain't trainin'! But still, thank goodness it wasn't raining today for 11 miles! Go Team!