Pushing myself to 10 miles today!! A great run with Kate

I still have the cold and I ran 6 miles yesterday.... but what's 10 more? lol I met Kate today for a run in Rock Creek Park. She was great to plan out the run - 5 miles to DC-Maryland Border and back, so that gave us our 10 mile goal for today. I didn't pay attention to the time, since I was more concerned w/ being able to go the distance.... but we kept our same pace and even pushed ourselves when we saw the DC-MD Border sign. We're great support for each other!! :-)

Here's a quick picture of us when we reached the DC-MD Border (one entrance to park):

I was smart and brought a few tissues today... that helped so I could give myself some relief w/ this cold. Kate & I both noticed around the 6 mile mark

that we were thirsty and our mouths were getting dry... so this probably had something to do with hitting the so called Wall so early today. We helped each other by staying positive and motivating each other to the finish.

We went to Potomac Running Store afterwards and bought some PowerBar Gel Blasts and Clif Shot Bloks. A couple other DC Team Challenge teammates had these in previous long runs, so it was great they let us try a couple (Thanks Lynn!) and we knew we liked them. The Blasts and Blocks are perfect to help w/ electrolyte intake during these long endurance runs.

Potomac Running Store is great and our Running Coach for DC Team Challenge is a manager there. They just opened a Cleveland Park store right off the Metro - perfect after a run at Rock Creek Park. :-)

This weekend, I made up for my rest during the week because of the holiday. It was great to test myself and see what I could do after a long rest and having the cold. I'll keep providing updates this week w/ my lunchtime runs w/ Jeremy. And Kate is going to try to meet up with us, since she works in DC, too. Jeremy will have two girls chasing him! lol

I have great news, too!! Kate surpassed the goal of $3,600 and has a new goal of $4000, which she is doing awesome to already being close to that! I'm just shy of the $3,000 mark, so getting close to the $3,600 minimum required to run in Miami. Kate & I hit the 10 mile mark today, so I know I'm right behind her with my fundraising.

All donations - no matter the size helps! Thanks for all my friends & family (Virtual Runners) who have contributed and supported me in this great cause.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and looking fwd to a great New Year! 2009 is going to start off great finishing in Miami!