Saturday, Oct. 3

I went to the team run and met Rachel at the Mopac. I did a full 10 miles and I was very proud of that even though I didn’t have the best time. I walked the first 4 miles and then got into my usual pace of 2 min. walk and 30 second run for the remaining 6 miles. My time was 2 hours 42 min (16.2 min/mile). We started at 6:30 AM and it was still dark…and chilly…I think it was around 39 or 40 degrees, but the important part is that I did it! Coach Rachel had sent me an email yesterday telling me that she was tossing out a suggestion for me to think about. She said that if it would help me feel less stressed about doing the full marathon since I’ve missed out on a bunch of training, that I could consider doing the half-marathon in Des Moines and then she would take the extra time afterwards to bring me back up in my training and then she would do a 26.2 mile marathon of our own even though it wouldn’t have the excitement of all the people in a marathon. I really appreciated her offer of this and I will consider it if I feel the need to cut down to a half. That was so nice of her to offer to spend extra time with me to get me back to full training and then run it with me. This just shows what a great person she is. I know I’ve said it before…but I could not have asked for a better coach anywhere on earth!! Of course she followed her offer by saying that she was pretty sure how I’d feel about cutting back to the half-marathon….yay! she really knows me now!! ..but I will keep that in the back of my mind!
Later that afternoon I went to a workshop out on the prairie that dealt with creativity and we ended the session with a bonfire out on the prairie and besides listening to the crackling of the embers, we heard the coyotes and their pups howling close by under the full moon. When I hear coyotes howling during the night under Nebraska skies, it tells me all is right with the world.