one of the maids

Miles today: 5.0

Miles this week: 9.9

Miles in 2010: 256.8

Today after work I ran with one of my bridesmaids, Stacey, again. She is home from school (in Roanoke) for spring break. We ran from the running store, out Rivermont to Peakland Place, up and down the hills of Peakland, out to Peakland United Methodist, and then back to the store.

Stacey is a few years younger than me, graduated from JMU in '08 and is now in OT school at Jefferson in Roanoke. She's a very smart girl and will be really good at working with people who need therapy. I'm excited for her.

Stacey went to Heritage and ran track and played soccer in high school. Therefore, she is WAY more of an athlete than I am. I think her events were like 800s and the mile. That makes her really good at running short distances fast...so while we were running our 5 mile course, on the way back, just before we hit mile four, Stace suggested that we run the last mile fast.
Now, I don't consider myself much of an athlete, because I'm not really that fast or talented at running, and when she suggested running the last mile under eight minutes after already running four miles, I was like, no freaking way.

However, Stace is pretty good at pushing me, and is a great motivator, so I decided to go for it...and we ended up running the last mile at about 7:50. That made me happy, but it also make me feel like puking.

Puking is one thing I'm good at it. Ever since I've raced in 5ks, all the way back to one I did at Penn State when I was in college, I've always been a puker. It usually isn't anything big...and I've learned not to eat too much (especially orange juice, because that burns coming back out)...because I hate puking up much more than liquid at a race. It's funny though, I think I've pinpointed the puking thing as being connected to the excitement and crowd at the finish line. I think this because I've run races where the finish line was really mild and not many people were paying attention, and not puked, and I've run races just as hard, and if there are tons of people at the end and it's really exciting, I puke.

For instance, last year at the Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond, I ran with my friend Sarah. We ran Sarah's pace, which was just a bit slower than my normal race pace. I hadn't felt tired or worn out the whole race. But, the finish line at the race was unbelievable. I mean, obviously with 30,000+ finishers you'd expect that...and what did I do? I puked on the timing mats as I crossed the line. Sarah had to run away from me because she was scared she was going to puke because of me! Hahaha...

Anyway, the run this evening with Stace reminded me of puking because that last mile felt pretty darn close to throwing up. Lucky for Stace, I was fine. But just thought it must've been a good run since there weren't any crowds or excitement when we finished.

Stacey and I kind of have an interesting story. We met through an ex-boyfriend...kind of in between me dating him and her dating him...and eventually, we both stopped dating him, and through it all have become really good friends...

I mean...really, I never would've thought she'd be in my wedding. Our connection is probably a good one because we've been through similar stuff. That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger...or something like that.

Anyway, Stace is in our wedding and she's recently a brand new engagee herself. I'm pretty excited for her and her fiance, Andrew.