Workout: 6.68 mi, team run
Time: 1:12:57
Temp: 54˚F
The site for this morning’s run is known as the “Tow Path”, which is a dirt path that runs down the middle of a canal. I don’t know why it’s there, but I think it has something to do with towing. Of the several locations that our team regularly runs at, the tow path is the closest to me. I was glad for that this morning because at 7am, it was the earliest team run yet, so it was nice to only have to drive twenty minutes instead of an hour or more.
When I checked the temp before leaving this morning, I didn’t believe what my online weather report told me, so I resorted to my back-up method of actually opening the door. Surprisingly enough, it really was in the low 50′s even though the sun wasn’t even up yet. There was a light drizzle of rain falling during the drive there, but it stopped right around the time the run started. I’ve been wearing my TnT training shirt every week to these runs, but today was the first day that it wasn’t hidden by other layers worn over it. I could have easily done shorts – probably should have – but I didn’t trust the conditions to be warm enough so I stuck with my running tights. Yeah, I said “tights”. Got a problem with that?
The training schedule called for a max of 6 miles today, so I expected to run probably five or six. I’m not sure how that got extended, but somebody sold somebody else on the idea of seven miles and then it just sort of spread until everyone was nodding going, “Sure, seven.” At my current level of fitness, running seven miles doesn’t scare me anymore, but it’s still the case that I’ve only run that far one time, and that was while training for my 10K. Unless my running watch’s calibration was off, I didn’t end up running a full seven today, but it still ended up as the second-longest run I’ve ever done, and I’m happy to report it did not wipe me out.
The turnout was not as large as it was for the first group run, but it’s also the holiday season and that drizzle may have had something to do with it. When it’s still dark and raining, it’s very tempting to choose sleep. I didn’t because I’m really enjoying these team runs, and buying into the stories from people who have done this before that the team runs are the most fun part of the whole experience, and an important part of staying motivated. There wasn’t any one person today whose pace exactly matched mine the whole time, but I always had one or more teammates to keep company with for the duration. One of those teammates, Noreen, was running with all sorts of stitches from recent procedures, and her response to whether her doctor said it was okay was that she didn’t ask him so he couldn’t say no. (This apparently happened to her once before right before a half marathon.)
After the run, I joined a small group for breakfast at a nearby diner. I almost skipped it but Noreen talked me into it and I’m glad I went. Besides Noreen, other breakfast companions included Keith, Jack, Amanda, Melissa, and Gary. I think all but Melissa and Gary, who are newbies like me, trained and ran together in the Marine Corp Marathon last October (or thereabouts). Keith is one of the team mentors and was sporting a festive Christmas hat that looked something a Sneetch would wear. Jack was puzzled by Keith’s eating style of holding his fork pointed down. Jack opined that Keith’s technique was a waste of the fork’s built-in curve, and therefore inefficient, “like using reverse to drive somewhere in your car”. Keith, with something like fifty years or more experience eating by now, stuck to his tried and true technique. Amanda (another mentor) tried to find a way to make her beer bong fundraiser idea work. Melissa and Gary are a couple in their mid-twenties; I don’t think they’re married, but they have that vibe, which I mean in a good way.
After breakfast, I went home and napped. Sorry, nothing interesting happened during the nap.
