13.5 & 18.

Waking up at 4:15am on a Saturday morning is pretty brutal. But when you're preparing for a 13 mile run, it's doubly brutal. I splash water on my face, roll my feet over two ice cold pint glasses to get rid of the mild plantar fasciitis, and I'm awake. As some of you know, the process of preparing for a double-digit mile run like this is pretty involved. You have to freeze Gatorade and water the night before. You set your iTunes playlist the night before. The more you can do the night before, the better. Because you don't want to have to get up any earlier than necessary. So I met the guys at 4:50, we wait for Blake who put out water for everyone, and we hit the road around 5:15. I ran 6 miles with the group, and the last 7.5 alone. My legs felt heavy at the end, but I finished in about 2 hours 15 minutes. Which is respectable. I don't really care about time at this point, I just want to be able to increase my mileage and stay injury free. If I run 11 minute miles and finish the marathon, so be it. It's my first marathon, so finishing the marathon is my primary objective. Check that, my 'only' objective. I can lower my time later. This isn't easy. But I'm enjoying it. And I'm learning anything is possible when you completely rely on God to do something. God knows I couldn't do it alone. Oh, I also played 18 holes immediately after my run. The first 6 holes on the front I was 11 over. The last 12 holes I was 10 over. It was hot. I was tired. But I tied my father-in-law on the back 9, who played as bad as I've ever seen him play. So there's that.