I ran 18 miles yesterday. What did you do?

We were scheduled for an 18 mile long run this week. Usually we run our distance runs on Friday or Saturday morning but decided to run it on Wednesday night this week due to busy schedules. I was a little worried about running back to back (speed training was on Tuesday) and more importantly about running in the evening instead of the morning. After a little bit of stress and lots of consideration, we decided to go for it. We didn't get on the trail until after 6:00pm. The first couple of miles were harder than expected. We decided to add a couple of miles to the beginning of our run. We've never been that far south before and were a little unsure about the trails. On the 2nd mile we had to climb a pretty nasty hill. I was a little nervous--2 miles into the run and I was already feeling like I might not make it--we still had 16 miles to go. Luckily, we started feeling better soon after we made it up the hill. Around mile 12 the sun had gone down completely and it was starting to get dark fast. We both started to feel a little anxious. My cell phone started ringing around mile 14. By this point I was really starting to struggle and couldn't muster the extra energy to pull my phone out of my back-pack. I checked my watch. It was already 8:30pm. Muscle fatigue was setting in quickly and so was the darkness. Our 3rd to last mile was awful. We ran along a stretch of sidewalk without any lights. I didn't feel good about it but couldn't come up with another option. I said a little prayer and as soon as we came out of the darkness my husband pulled up to the side of the road in the car. He cheered for us and then turned the car around and handed us a flashlight. :) I had a feeling he would come. The last mile and a half of our run was pretty torturous. Multiple times I didn't think I was going to make it. I couldn't shake the fatigue. I spoke out loud, "You can do this." "Only 1.5 miles to go." I felt the tears/emotions choking me at the back of my throat. I quickly swallowed them back down. As we reached the final 1/2 mile we had to quickly decide if we were going to attempt the huge hill at the end or keep running straight in the wrong direction. We both decided the hill might finish us off and kept running straight. I looked down at my watch. "Only .25 miles to go," I declared. "Let's push it." That .25 miles lasted a lot longer than we expected it would. As soon as we stopped, I realized how many muscles were aching. We slowly limped back to the parking lot where our driver was waiting for us. My whole lower half felt numb. It felt like my legs didn't belong to me. I slowly made my way up the stairs to our apartment. I tried to stay on my feet to keep my legs moving. It was difficult. Nausea was setting in quickly. Once my daughter was in bed, my sweet husband stayed up with me. He brought me food, helped me stretch, and sat with me while I ate and waited for my mind and body to calm down before I fell asleep. The best thing about pushing your body to these types of limits is that it's hard in that moment but as soon as you finish it's easy to forget the pain/exhaustion. By next week, I'll be more than ready to do it again.