12 miles and 28 days :)

This morning I ran 12 miles totallybymyself.  It was nice to sleep in a little bit before my long run since the weather has changed enough that I didn't have to worry about the heat.  I headed out just before 10am and hit the road prepared with my hydration back pack and sports beans. 

I started out slowly and honestly, the worst miles of the entire day were the first two.  My feet hurt, I was tired (even after 11 hours of sleep!), and my brain wasn't on board with the run.  But, I had a great route mapped out and was already dressed and out the door, so I couldn't come up with any reason to cut the run short.

Miles 3-7 went by no big deal and after I made the turn around at mile 7, I felt really good.  I knew I only had 5 miles left and was on the way back home, so I was flying.  I took a walk break about every two miles to hydrate and fuel a couple times.  I don't normally take walk breaks, but I figured it would keep me going since I was worried about getting bored on my own.  This was my longest solo run to date and I wasn't 100% how it was going to go. 

The two most annoying things about my run were:

• My garmin died just after mile 5.  I had an idea it would happen when I turned it on and it said 'low battery'.  Whoops, I don't remember charging it after my 18 miler last week (and two subsequent runs).  I grabbed my old school stopwatch just in case and ran with one watch on each wrist.  Oh well, at least I have my total time.
• My right contact was fuzzy the entire run!  I was unable to focus completely on anything.  talk about annoying.  If any of you wear contacts, you know what I mean and man, does it suck.  But, I didn't really realize it until mile 2, and I wasn't going to turn back to replace it.  Most annoying thing ever.

Other than that, getting home after 12 solo miles felt amazing.  I was tired, but didn't have any self-doubt about the marathon, which is nice.  Speaking of which, there are only 28 DAYS until my FIRST MARATHON!!

20 miler next weekend, then 12, 8 then race day!  I better find an outfit, I definitely want to personalize my shirt.  But can't decide with what...

What do you think?  Just my name really big so people will cheer for me?  Or something like "It's my first marathon!"  I don't know.  Any great ideas from your first marathon outfit?