Holy Tuckers Hill!

Training for a half marathon is hard! I know I can run the distance but my body hurts after. I feel good but still hurt, if that makes sense. I ran my longest run yesterday with Shelley. A full 18 km’s!! Seriously. My longest run ever, my Garmin even said so! There was a group of us running yesterday, a couple different distances and a couple different start times but it all worked out because we all pretty much finished around the same time.

I have wanted to do this run for EVER! After 3 years of missing out I was able to do it! I didn’t do it before because either I wasn’t ready to run that distance or I had family commitments. So yesterday I got up nice and early and picked up Shelley and made our way to Coffee Matters in Paradise. While we were getting ready to start our run we noticed Chris Cox in his vehicle. Apparently he didn’t get the memo that his group was running at 7:30 am not 7:00 am. So we carried on, ran around the back of Neil’s Pond. On the way in I told Shelley that I was not in the mood to see a moose, I don’t think I could out run a moose. Actually. I know I can’t outrun a moose.

When we were finished with Neil’s Pond I asked if we were done. Only another 16 KM to go. That is the Tely 10 all over again. Dear Lord. I did feel pretty good, planning in my head when to eat my Swedish fish! I was so happy when I found Halloween candy at Sobeys in Paradise on Friday! It is the perfect serving size and small packages that fit in my fuel belt.

5 km into the run we stopped (my request) so I could chow down on some candy and Shelley could eat some Rice Krispies. We walked a bit just because the road was horrible with lots of gravel.  We kept going, I still felt pretty good. I knew that St. Thomas Line was long but holy crap, it is much longer when you are running it. Along the way, Shelley saw a whale (no she was not hallucinating, we were by the ocean) and we saw a Bald Eagle. We finally got to the end of St. Thomas Line! Finally! But if you have done this run before you know what is to the left! Tuckers hill! This is a huge hill. I had to stop a couple times but Shelley KILLED it! She will be so ready for the Cape 2 Cabot! I was scopping out the woods to see if I could find a place to pee but now a days there are too many hidden cameras and I don’t want my parts on the internet.

After getting up over that hill there are a couple of "rolling hills" until you get to the Bell Island Ferry wharf. I had to stop a couple more times and I ran out of water but I still felt good. I ate more candy along the way which certainly helped. I finished that run with a huge smile on my face! This is the run I have always wanted to do, even before I wanted to do a half marathon.  

I feel good about the half Marathon now that I have this run done.  Only a couple more weeks of training!