19.45 and good to go

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling pretty anxious. I was meeting a new running partner and going for my longest run to date. I had spent about an hour at REI the night before looking and goo and other energy products. I had tried sport beans before and really liked the taste, but wanted to try something else as well. But, as is my tendency, I wanted everything, so I got a little of everything! Some gels, some shot blocks, and some sport beans. Before the run, I had 2 cups of coffee and big bowl of cereal (frosted mini wheats, kashi go lean, and special K- again I like to have it all, I can never just have one type).
The running partner worked out perfectly. She got an in to Boston at the last minute and is also trying to do some catch-up. She was a little faster at the start, but after the first hour we were both comfortable with the speed. I couldn't believe how fast 3 hours passed! I stopped at about 75 minutes for a quick walk break, and a gel, which I had no problems with. Then we just get kept chugging. It was a bright, warm, sunny day and I had my first run of the spring in a t-shirt.
The only tough part came at the end. We planned a straight run to Concord, where we were going to meet friends for lunch. Except we got there so much faster than I thought we would. So we had about 45 minutes more of running to kill. I still felt pretty good, but it was just hard to keep running loops, and passing our cafe over and over! But, I was so determined to make it to 3 hours, and I did. The final mileage was 19.45, which is a 9:15 pace. I was shocked! I thought that we would maybe do 16 in that 3 hours. Either my nike i-pod plus is totally off, or I can actually do this!