Thirteen-k, schmirteen-k

Remember that lovely little long run I mentioned last week? That was supposed to be 10k, but would be 13k?

It was 14.6k. And I did it all.

It was wonderful. After a week of worrying if my knees would collapse on me, or I'd have enough energy, we did nearly 15k in approximately one hour and 42 minutes.

I won't say that it went splendidly, but it went a heck of a lot better than last week's, and even yesterday's run.

The scenery was fantastic. We ran up the canal, and behind the Parliament buildings, over to the Portage bridge, crossed the river there, and then back along Rue Laurier (on the Gatineau side) to the Alexandra bridge. We came back across that, along Sussex Drive, and then down the Canal again.

Along the way, my knees occasionally felt wobbly and weak, but I kept reminding myself that you can't just push back the wall, you have to break through it. To acknowledge the wall's ability to break means the sky's the limit. By the end of the run, I was still going pretty strong.

Just imagine, another 6k, and that would be a half-marathon distance.

At this point, we're going to be 'tapering down' our distances, resting up for the race day. What this means is that soon, the 10k race will be here (the counter shows 'NAN' for Not a Number, but it's in 13 days), and my lovely group of running partners will be disbanded and move on to other goals. I'm sad to think of this, because they've really shown me how awesome running can be, how friendly runners are, and how wonderful their encouragement is. I've met so many wonderful people through the Running Room, and I'll miss running with them, but that doesn't mean I won't see them again!

On a different note, it occurred to me that I can wait to get my Garmin - I'm sure I won't need it for the 10k race, and I can pick it up when I go home to Alberta for a week because, wonder of wonders, Alberta doesn't have a provincial sales tax! Also, Garmins are much less expensive at Costco. Win-win!