Miles 10-12

To my amazing family and friends, thank you for your patience over the last month that I have not blogged. As the training gets harder and the miles longer it is difficult to find the time to sit down. Wow! So much to say I don't even know where to begin!
Let's see...the 10 mile run was awful, painful, cold and...awful! I went home that morning and felt like this was it, if I can't do 10 miles how will I ever do 26? I barely completed the run my knees hurt so bad, my hands were frozen (36deg that morning) and our water was stolen from our water stop so I was choking on my own saliva! See, awful! But I pushed through to the next week, and it's a good thing I did because 11 miles was awesome! When I got to the end point I immediately found a coach to ask if I went the correct route. It just seemed way too easy to be 11 miles! I went home feeling great that day, cold-but great! Well that is until I sat down for a little while and tried to get back up, then it felt like I had been hit by a truck. Still working through the week running 3-4 miles 3 times a week I am finding a new set of challenges. Just as I was comfortable in my runs, mother nature has changed her tune. As the seasons are changing it is now dark and cold when I get home from work. From now until the race I will mostly be training in the dark. Boy I cannot wait for that Oklahoma winter wind to kick in with the 30 deg temps! (do you catch my sarcasm) :) So now I am using trial and error to find the attire best to stay warm yet let my body breath and sweat. Now we are up to 12 miles. Last weekend I missed the group run, so my kick ass husband stuck it out and ran the entire 12 miles with me so I wouldn't have to do it alone! I was impressed that with no training but the occ run with me during the week he was able to complete the full 12! And there I was the last 2 miles whining and complaining with every step :) Nonetheless he stuck with me, what a trooper! So today, with the TNT group I ran 12 again. We are now at the half way point of training. No more 1 mile increases per week (oh-no!). Today 12, next week 14, then 12, 16,12,18 etc (see the pattern). There is no turning back now! Today was the re-commitment day for everyone. We officially turned in our paperwork for travel and signed up for the marathon. I will admit, I was hesitant to make it official or at least to sign up for the full. Today's run was...eh. I do not anticipate having any more "easy" runs like the 11 mile run so I should just get used to the fact that it will be painful from here on out!
On a different note, fundraising is going great! Thank you to everyone who has helped me make it this far. I am almost at $3300, that's $1700 away from my goal but I am not going to give up yet! Every step I take, every dollar we raise makes a difference in someones life. I learned this week of a dear friend of my grandmother's who was diagnosed with lymphoma just over a month ago, and passed away last week. I will continue to run for his family and everyone else whose lives have been touched by cancer.
Love you all. Thank you for your support.