I was wrong about my PR

It's true. I lied about my PR. The official race results took over a week to be posted and so I just went off the clock in my finish line photo. It turns out that I didn't PR by 16 seconds at all. I PRd by 19 seconds!!!

HOORAY!

So, my official result from the Shut Up and Run XC 5K is 26:21.

And it gets even better. I came in 54/248 overall. That's amazing for me. I'm usually in the middle of the pack.

I was the 10th female to cross the finish line.

And best of all, I was 2nd in my age group. I was only 30 seconds behind the first place finisher.

I freaking love small races. They make you feel like you're so fast!

And in other news, I ran my first 18-miler yesterday. I was afraid of not having the endurance to do it, but I did it. I finshed in about 3:07, so it was about 7 minutes slower than my goal, but at this point I don't care. I still finished. I felt pretty good for the first 10 miles. I was running at a 10:10 pace because I didn't want to go out too fast, which turned out to be the best idea I've had in a long time. At mile 13 I felt spent. I was tired. More than tired. It felt like I was running with lead shoes.

I needed a little encouragement. So I did what any 25-year-old woman would do in a dire situation. I texted my 3 best girl friends. It's true, I did. One of them lives in Alaska, and the other two live in Utah. This is what my text said, "On mile 13 of an 18 mile training run. Tired. Need encouragement."

Sure enough, a few seconds later I got the encouragement I needed.

From Holly in Alaska, "You are awesome! You can run and text at the same time?! Love you girl, you are my hero!"

From Amanda in Utah, "You can do it! Only five more miles, you could run five miles in your sleep! Let me know when you're done, good job!"

And from Jami in Utah, "Oh my goodness! 18 miles?! You amaze me! I just love you. Finish the last five miles!!!"

I love those girls. And really, those texts were just what I needed. It gave me the boost of energy I needed to finish those last 5 miles. And on that note I need to say that I'm thankful for friends. I'm especially thankful for the friendship of those 3 girls, who, despite the fact that I live thousands of miles away (and a 4 and 2 hour time difference), keep in touch. Can't wait to move back home!

After my run, I quickly hopped in my car, bought a couple of bags of ice, came home, bundled up in swimsuit bottoms a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie, and had myself my first real ice bath. It was excruciating. I only lasted 10 minutes. How do athletes do this on a regular basis?! I kept trying to wiggle my toes and eventually they just went numb and I couldn't feel them anymore. After about 5 minutes I think my entire lower body was numb. That was the worst form of pain I've felt in a long time, but I'm glad I did it. I'm not so sore today. Besides a little tightness in my left hamstring, I feel like I only ran a 5K.