Big Sur and a new running partner

This is crazy!!! I did not publish this post as one long paragraph. Blogger won't let me edit!!! Agggghhhhh!!! We are now under 2 weeks away from Big Sur!!! I'm getting over the fact that the race route has been changed from point to point to an out and back. I no longer bother dreaming about myself running across the Bixby Bridge. Just FYI when I started training for this race I bought a Big Sur calendar with pictures from previous marathons. There is a picture of that bridge in more than half of the pictures. Half way across the bridge is the (oh excuse me... WAS the) halfway point of the marathon. Now the start of the race will take place where the finish usually is and we run south to just north of where the road washed away... which is just north of the Bixby Bridge. Then we turn around and run north back to the finish. As my nephew Danny says, "Oh my gosh, darn, fricken!!" So we don't even get near it. I wonder if I'll see it off in the distance taunting me. Beckoning me to come back another year when the road is repaired... As for training... I feel so much stronger this time around. I'm not even all that sore now after my long runs. 20 miles came and went without all that much fuss. Last fall I would lay around in a lazyboy for the rest of the day acting like I'd lost the ability to use my legs after a long run. Now? I'll be a bit tender going downstairs for maybe 24 hours but nothing more than that. Last fall I battled blisters constantly. I remember after our 18 mile long run I actually had a blister that wrapped completely around one toe. I did eventually end up losing that toenail... nice, right? Now? I have none of that!! Halleluia!! Meredith and I have been running the hills in her neighborhood. I know this makes me sound crazy but I'm secretly proud of how much I feel like I just might need to vomit when we reach the top of a hill. Then when we level off and I get my breath back I get this proud feeling. Who knew that I would like hills so much? Not me that's for sure. Today I gained a new partner. JULIANNA!!! She ran with me for a 1.3 mile loop in our neighborhood then she went home and I finished my 4 miles for the day. She was so cute. She chattered away the whole time about the pretty flowers we saw and how much fun she was having. When she got a stitch in her side we walked it out. I was so proud of her. She did really well for her first time out there. I'd say that she ran for about the first half mile then we alternated walking and running till we returned her to home. She kept saying how much fun it would be to run a race with Aunt Meredith and I. I'm sure that by the time she is up to running several miles her long legs will take her farther and faster than I can handle but for now I'm going to love this time with her!