Weekend run

My first ever 14 miler. It's the longest distance I've ever run and I can't believe it went so well. My knees were tired by the end of it but otherwise I felt great. Since my left side (leg, knee, hips back) are weaker than my right, I was encouraged (is that the right word to be using here?) by the fact that both my knees felt equally worn out. We've started to experiment with salt tablets and they make such a difference during the long runs especially given the humidity in this hell-hole that is austin this summer.
I ran with Leslie and Jessica. I'm surprised how smoothly things went considering, I ran 14, Leslie ran 12 and Jessica ran 8. We ran into a fellow Gazelle that had been left behind by her group who ran my 14 with me. Having someone to run large distances with you is great but having someone who is fun to talk to really makes the run. Emily, the girl I ran with, was a talker and interesting to boot.
She also happens to be crazy!
She is training for her second marathon and she does all her runs without any nutritional supplements, I mean no food whatsoever! The only time she has used gels was during the marathon itself and it her cramps so she's a little weary of using them. I shared an extra gel and salt tablets with her during our run and I hope that has changed her mind about using the stuff.

A weird result of the salt tablets is that I need less gels to run on. I took three with me since that's how many I used during my training runs over 12 miles during the half. I ended up using only two. As long as I was alternating the tablets w/ the gels. I was fine. Actually that's a lie. I almost forgot to take a second gel because I felt fine but around mile 9 I started to feel a little nauseous. Realizing that I was probably low on sugar, I took a gel and immediately felt better. Ah, mustn't forget to take those things.

Then, the strangest thing happened once stretching was finished. I realized how amazing my legs are. This is a big deal because my legs (thighs) are what I like the least on my body. But the run made me feel this intense love for them. They carried me through those miles and kept me moving. They are getting stronger as training progresses and I can't help but be proud of them.