Double Digits!

I can remember when I turned ten years old and how happy I was to hit double digits. It was such a highly anticipated birthday! Double digits in running seemed more of a bittersweet in my opinion. I knew it was coming, according to my free training calendar. I just couldn't decide where to do it and how I was going to do it. At this point, my furthest run had been 8 miles at a 10.25 pace. Well, I get bored easy and often change things like the placement of my furniture or the items on my desk. I even change shower curtains and any other item that will give me an excuse to hit up Target. This habit is not on Mark's list of "Reason's you married Leanne". Running is the same for me. I never run the same place multiple times in a row. I enjoy not knowing what is next. This is bad because Mark doesn't always know where I will be. I try to give him an idea, but I sometimes will change my path. I recently started carrying a copy of my drivers license along with Mark's phone number, just in case. So...if you are reading this and don't know me and find a girl passed out somewhere, check my shoe wallet. I decided to take this milestone of a run to the Back Bay Loop. After all, it is part of the OC Half course. I somehow managed to talk my innocent brother in law into running this with me. This past Saturday was THE perfect day. It had rained the night before which left crisp clean air and blue skies. Alex and I met on Bayview, by the Mariott and caught the loop from there. The first 2 miles were pretty obvious on where to run. After that, we found ourselves asking a variety of people where the loop was. Kind of hard to believe you can lose a loop, right? Come to find out, we were on track the whole time, with the exception of one wrong turn, but it was a quick one. We saw several beautiful homes during our run. We did some walking, but that was okay because it gave me time to bond with my brother from another mother. I do have to say if you run the loop, and you come up off Galaxy, prepare yourself for the most beautiful view EVER. The bay, the blue ocean, sail boats, paddle boarders and palm trees. WOW! Words can't do it justice. We reached a point of no return. We were about 5.5 miles in so we had to finish it now. We ran along PCH and Newport Dunes. We even passed some campers that were cooking pancakes and drinking their coffee. YUM! That right there is motivation enough to run faster so I could get to MY coffee. We started walking again around mile 6.5. I would like to blame this on Alex, but I can't. I welcomed the break and opportunity to take in the sights. We decided that at mile 7 we would run the rest of the way. Mile 7 came faster than I thought but off we went. I heard Alex next to me for a while but I just kept on running without looking back (sorry Alex). I got to the car and about 7-10 minutes later, Alex showed up. Not bad for a guy who hadn't run in about 8 months (with the exception of our trail run where we got lost the week before). He is six months older than me, so I figured I could cut him some slack. 10.5 miles and two hours later and it was done. I felt great! I did have a mound of salt on top of my hat from all my sweat though. Alex and I rested on the grass in the sun and stretched for a bit. We chatted some more and spoke about church, our beliefs and God. Seemed appropriate since He is the one responsible for all we saw that day. Thanks Alex for the motivation and thank you, God, for my life. Amen.