**Day 98**

Okay, so the 20 min. run was today, and I set my alarm for early to get it over with, but when the beep-beep-beep woke me up at 7:30am I knew, immediately, that I wasn't go to do the run....right then, anyway.  I was too nervous.  I mean, so far in the training I had only run for 8 minutes straight, and I just couldn't wrap my brain around moving all the way up to 20 min.!!  I just didn't feel like I was going to get through it, so I told myself I would do it in the afternoon, but I didn't.  And as the day wore on, I started thinking - maybe I'll just wait until Saturday morning when I feel more ready.  But then that didn't sit well with me because that's, exactly, what the old Shannon would have done.  The old Shannon was a huge procrastinator.  Heck, I'll be honest, the old Shannon was a big quitter!  Yes, I was!  When something seemed too hard or overwhelming - I just didn't do it.  Well, I don't want to be that way anymore, so I told myself - Shan, get your ass down to that basement, and get on your new, beautiful treadmill, and run!!  So, I did.....

First, I walked for 5 minutes to warm up!  Then I restarted the timer, threw a kitchen towel over the console (because I knew I would not get through the 20 minutes if I had to stare at the time, slowly, ticking away) and started running!  I was feeling pretty good, and got the guts to remove the towel, and I was already at 9:15!!  I was so relieved to see that I had less than 11 minutes to go!  At 17 min. my left calf really starting burning, and I really felt like I wanted to stop (no, I mean, I really, really, really wanted to stop!!!), but I didn't - instead I bumped up my speed and kept going!!  And I finished it!  I ran for 20 minutes straight!!!  I'm so proud of myself!  Next Friday, I have to run 25 minutes......Bring It!