MM- Further and Further

Yesterday, I pushed myself and ran 14.5 miles. I have mentally been ready for this run but I was nervous of how I would hold up physically. The 2 previous long runs were just over 11 miles and by mile 6 my knees were killing me. By the end of those runs, I felt like I wasn't even picking my feet up off of the ground. Mentally, I felt like I could run forever. I wasn't tired at all but my knees were really holding me up.
So I was avoiding adding additional miles for fear that I couldn't do it or that it would just be too painful. I have cut my weights back a little bit at the gym, began stretching, and doing PIYO in hopes to stretch  and relax my quads and calves. Saturday morning, while I was running I just committed to it and decided I was doing the long run.
I have learned to count and depend on friends during this training. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be able to take all the time needed to train. I mapped my run out and ran to my friends house who kept my kids overnight. It was great motivation to run there to meet back up with the kids and I was really appreciative of the kids being taken so I could get a super early start.
Overall my run was great! The first 5 miles were very quiet and at a good pace a little under 10 minutes. After mile 5, I started running against a huge bike race. I ran against them for the remainder of my run. It actually kept me distracted but also made me wish I was on a bike. I kept waiting for my knees to start hurting. I got to two hours and and they still felt great! This was very encouraging to me and gave me the boost I needed. At 2 hours and five minutes, I ran by a grocery store and could smell donuts. That made me really hungry. It was also about this point that my left knee started to hurt just a tad and I also felt a bubble on my toes. I knew I was almost down though so I continued to run and felt good. The highlight of my run was at 2 hours and 1 5minutes when I ran by a yard that had it sprinklers on and I ran through them. That just made me feel amazing! And then the end was in sight. Another highlight was seeing 5 smiling faces when I finished and having a great friend feed me juice, eggs, and a smoothie! This run gave me the boost that I needed to continue on with this training. I had a great amount of energy on the entire run too. I was starting to feel a little glum about it and also doubt my decision to do it. I think I am ok now and I look forward to the next one!