13 Miles

Day 86.

A few weeks ago, I thought it would be cool to invite people who are looking to run the half-marathon to get together for a ten mile run the week before. You know, get five or six people together, kind of get a feel for running with other people, just on a small scale. I really was hoping to get to run with someone else just to know what it would feel like. And since the training called for a ten mile run, that’s something that I needed a little extra push to be ready for.

So imagine my surprise when I pulled into the Fonner Park parking lot to see a couple dozen runners getting ready to go. How awesome.

And what a difference a crowd makes. I haven’t run without music — other than the day my iPod died –since the first week or so of training. As I tucked my ear plugs into my headband and got my setup set up, I saw a few others get theres ready, but most people weren’t listening to music. They were, of all things, talking.

How long would this last? We started running as a big pack, but that wouldn’t last long. I ‘partnered up’ with a fellow named Larry. We did the talking thing, too. But only for a mile or so. Then another mile or so. Then Mark, who showed up late, caught up to us. Then we talked with Rachel and another guy, I missed his name.

As we approached the turnaround point — we decided to go five miles out, then come back, instead of going all the way to the 6.55 mid-point and have to walk three miles when we were done — those ahead of us met us on their way back. And they weren’t all that far ahead of us – maybe a minute or two or so. They all had encouraging things to say.

We turned and came back — still talking. It was very enjoyable. We broke up a bit, added another runner, Dan, and stuck it out at a good pace all the way to the final turn. Mark sprinted like ‘Lightning’ Bolt to the finish. I tried, then died, then kept going. Larry found his kick and finished with Mark; Dan made it to the finish, then turned to run some more (he showed up late and met us in the middle) and I made it in 95 minutes.

And no iPod needed. That’s a first. So is the 9:30 pace for that long. And running in the group made it even better. Not easier, just smoother.

It was possibly the most fun I’ve had running yet. I have to give a big thank you to Becky, Venus and the rest of the runners club that came out and the others that were there. You guys are awesome. I’m more prepared for next week than ever, and more excited too.

And Amy told us there are over 300 people signed up for the Bill Seymour, so we’ll have a few more friends. I’ll still bring the iPod, just in case.

WEIGHT UPDATE: I weighed in yesterday at one pound less than last Friday. So I’m officially 28 pounds down for the 86 days. I can live with that.

See you next week!

Twitter This

Username: Password:

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 am and is filed under Training | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.