This may sound crazy to you - especially if you read the 'About Me' post and you've seen the pictures - but I LOVE long runs.
I didn't used to.
A little background: in High School I ran Cross Country. But even that is only about 3 miles, maybe less. For the vast majority of my life, I had not run more than that until I met Addie. (I did run a five miler when I was in 4th grade... and with no practice...kids!). When Addie and I got together she was training the NYC marathon. She asked me if I would ever want to run a marathon with her. We were dating, so I said "sure". I mean, after all I might. Don't judge. You know you've all done that, or worse. Girls aren't innocent here either: 'sure, I'll watch the game with you - I love this sport. Oh, they wear interesting costumes'. Ah dating...
Here's the interesting thing: I said it, and it was out there. I began to run again. At first it was a challenge to get a half-hour run in and run consistently. Meaning, no walking breaks. But then I did it. Then one day I was out and felt really good. I thought "I wonder if I could run longer?". So I did. Then I added more. Then more.
Addie and I began training together. Now she was training for the Chicago marathon. Man, does this girl quit? I got my miles up. I still hadn't (and still haven't yet) lost the belly, but I can go for a long time. We're not fast compared to the true competitors, but we can go far.
So I've run 20 miles now in my run training. I don't know many people in the world have ever done that. I was thinking Saturday that regularly running long runs (definition: at least an hour of running, or at least 6 miles, if your pace is faster) puts us in a category that few people are in percentage-wise.
"It's great to be out on the trail"
Where we live there are a few bridges, and the loop between the two most notable ones is about 5 miles. We parked our car about 3/4's of a mile from the bridge in the park and ran it. Woo! It felt good. About 6.5 miles overall. We will get the miles up soon. We're at the beginning of this season. Soon 10 miles will be considered 'dialing it down a bit'.
There was some crazy wind for some of the run, but the sun was out, the river was beautiful, and it was great to be on the trail.
One of the things that is so nice to run with the two of us is a) we really love each other's company, and b) it's nice to get some thinking and talking time in. Oh yeah, our pace is such that we can talk most of the time. We run about 12 minute miles. About 11 and 1/2 when we get into the training season a bit. With the cross-training, we are hoping to get a bit more lean, and then - who knows? - we might lower that mile average time.
This year we (not just she) have spots already purchased for the Marine Corp marathon. We'll have to do a post on that later...
Sunday - Day 7 is a day of rest with no exercise planned.
Thanks for reading and take care of yourself!
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