How did my legs not fall off?

I'll never understand why I was absolutely frightened when I learned that I would eventually have to run 20 miles. For some reason, running a marathon didn't seem to frighten me to the same level as running 20 miles for the first time. It just seemed so daunting and a bit impossible. It didn't help to discover that our 20 mile run would occur the same weekend we were going to Vegas to celebrate my amazing father-in-law's birthday. Adam and I have both been to Vegas before and knew that it wasn't feasible to come back and run the miles. Nobody comes back from Vegas in a position/condition to run. We were going to have to knock out the miles before we even left.

So, we took the day off from work, got up early, and started out. My right knee started out tight (in the last few weeks, I've experienced more pain in the legs due to the high mileage) but I quickly fell into a rhythm. Running isn't as much physical as it is mental. It was quite hard to fathom running such a significant number of miles. The worst part after the first couple of mile markers is knowing you still have 18 or 19 miles left. Shockingly, the run went well. From about mile 14 to 15.5, I wanted to rip off my legs and throw them into the bushes, but, other than that, I really enjoyed the run. Adam, as usual, was amazing. He remained positive, supportive, and funny. For the first time, he experienced a runner's high. After we passed the 17 mile mark, he started singing and dancing and sounded a lot happier than he should have. That's when he said, "I think I have runner's high." Because it felt so great to watch and listen to him, I thought maybe I was experiencing the same thing, until he told me that his body didn't hurt, and that's when I knew, I definitely wasn't experiencing a high.

I ran every step of the 20 miles (Adam would stop at the fountains and fill up our water bottles, then catch up to me). I knew I had to continue to run because if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to start back up. I have no idea what the marathon will bring, but I need to know that I can run 20 miles without stopping, especially since it's Adam's goal to run the marathon in it's entirety (my goal is to finish, preferably still able to walk afterward).

Four hours and six minutes after we started, we finished at the 20 mile mark and it was one of the most amazing feelings we've yet to experience. An absolute rush of emotions overwhelmed me, mainly amazement that we were able to do it. It proves that if you follow the training plan, you can do it. 9 months after we started running, we were able to run 20 miles.

I didn't think anything could top that moment, until hours later when we were sitting at a table in Vegas with all of Adam's brothers and parents. To have an entire family together, laughing, and sharing stories was a definite highlight to the day (maybe knowing our longest run, until the actual marathon, was out of the way helped).

Let the tapering begin ...