Each Step is One in The Right Direction

This is a picture I got about 10 minutes into the run. Seriously, the sun was basically coming up as we were running. We were running away from the clouds and into the sunshine. We started off pretty fast, running with some other people. They looked pretty strong, but the thing is that they didn't talk during their runs. I told *D* she was welcome to go ahead, but there was no way that I was going to continue running sub 6 minute kilometers for 30k...seriously.

By now the sun had come up and this is the picture that I got from the trail. Beautiful, isn't it? Sun and water. Would have been nicer had there been leaves on the trees, but I guess that all comes in good time right? We were told to run towards the CN tower, and this is one of the nicest views I had. (I think this is my all-time favorite picture of scenery from a run)

So, once I saw the CN tower I knew it was going to disappear again. Mental toughness, I said to myself. If I can stand that, I can build myself up mentally and I'll end up being a stronger, better, more efficient runner, right? It wasn't that easy...
This picture, I believe is just about where I lost it. It's about 18k in, just before the the pretty pretty path. We saw our friend *A* here, who is unable to run for a little while because of her IT band. We met her, and she had water and offered words of encouragement (Such as, you're almost there, no matter how much I didn't believe her:P) and we continued on our way. Just as a side note, I'm veryyy greatful to her for bringing the water because if she hadn't I would have run out.

So we were running. Like I said. I pretttty much lost it at about 18k. I was like, OH BOY! I still have to run another 12k. We're really far from home, and if I cabbed it from here to where we are meeting breakfast there goes my first born child. lol I'm exaggurating but still. So, from 18 to 24k, I pretty much wanted to cry/die/curl up in a ball on the side of the road and let the bikes run me over. Yeahh.. It was tough. I was tired. We couldn't see the CN Tower anymore. I just felt like we were never going to get there.

Luckily for me I have the verryyyy best running buddy ever. *D* just kept on talking. Talking about trips she's planning, and family and boys and food. Seriously. She was amazing. It kept my mind off the pain that my body felt and what my mind was thinking, and kept me listening to her. I mentally did the landmarks thing. You have to run through here, past here, and over that. It helped (a little). Once we got onto the city streeets and I could see the streets ahead, I think I got a second wind. Little did I know, we weren't running to Union station this time...and we weren't running to the CN tower...

Why are we passing it? We still had 6km ( I think) once we passed the CN tower. At this point, I was just mad that they were going to tell us we're running one place and make us run an extra 6k when we were already so tired. But, after this point, I just felt light. My form came back, and I looked strong. I kept looking at street signs, trying to figure out when we'd be done, but I looked good, and I even felt really good.

We turned the corner onto the street where the car was hiding, and we heard someone yell "HEY". My first instinct, for the record, was to run even faster and get away from them (Not a big fan of homeless people trying to rob me of my ipod and Garmin. Instead, I look over, and it was 2 of the guys from the group who were standing by the car while everyone else went to go change! It was kinda fun, they made a finish line and we crossed it and then the took our picture with my camera:)

We were then informed that "Richtree", the place where we were having breakfast, was like 5 blocks away! I must tell you that I was none to impressed, but still we trudged to the restaurant (for yummy breakfast). I had an omlette, with lemonade and water. I was a little sore but nothing ridiculous. This is a picture of the group that I ran with (Or met for breakfast afterwards. The different paces of everyone is pretty spread out. But everyone is pretttty cool:))

We headed home on the train, and I got a ride. I went home, and had a nap. When I woke up from my nap I was pretty dizzy. I'm assuming this was dehydration, so I had some water and stuff and felt much better in the morning. Im thinking I generally have the nutrition of my long runs down pat, but hydration is where I am lacking. This is going to become even more important as the weather gets hotter (and we all know how my body reacts to the heat)

Then I woke up bright and early to be on the train for 7am so I could be downtown for 9...
Too Be Continued...