Reflections from the Long Run

When you are on your feet and running for almost 2 hours, you have a lot of time to think about things. This morning, I joined my fellow StarRunners as we did 11 miles of the St. Jude Half Marathon route in town. Here's a few of the kinds of that run through my mind...
-11 miles. You got this. You've done this before. Just. keep. going.
-Are we done yet?
-Need to drink more water. Fuel time! Last time, I tried to fuel with raisins but in order to get the 30 grams of carbs that you are supposed to eat to fuel for about 2 hours you have eat a little over 1/4 cup of raisins. The problem, it is really hard to eat that many raisins and run at the same time! Today, I thought I'd try these "Gu Chomps" to fuel. They were so chewy! It was so hard to chew, breathe, and swallow at the same time!
-What should I eat after the run? Hmmm... pumpkin oatmeal? pumpkin-peanut butter toast? pumpkin spice latte? All of the above? :-)
-Need to get those presentations done for work. Did I put that milk in for Mr. X? The new intern class starts on Monday! Eek!
-Mmm... what's that smell?? Warm bread... it's Wonderbread! (The factory in town was along our route!)
-What do I have in my fridge? What should I pick up from the farmer's market later?
-Dean's birthday is coming up soon! What to get?!
-Am I done now?!?!? Only one more mile.
-Try really hard to not let the snot run out my nose! (Why does your nose run so much in the cold?!) So embarrassing!
-One last push to the end. You can do it... you did it!!! 11 miles, check!
-Dude my legs are sore... lol.

Of course, I am also chatting with my friends. There was a group of about 6 of us that kept together the whole run. They definitely helped me make it through! Now, Will and I are heading to the River Arts Fest this afternoon - it's happening right outside my apartment building so I figured, I can't miss it!