Long run fun

Planned: 12 miles
Actual: 12.1 miles

The schedule called for 10-11 miles today, but I was feeling all ambitious and decided to aim for 12. My friend Black Bear contacted me earlier this week to see if I wanted to go for a run, so we agreed to meet at a local park at 7am this morning. I'm calling her Black Bear because I wanted to link to her blog (which she needs to update more often, hint hint) and I don't think she uses her real name on her blog. So she will be BB for the rest of this post!

BB was not up for 12 today, so we agreed that she'd do one loop of the path with me (about 8 1/4 miles) and then I'd be on my own for the rest of the 12. BB runs quite a bit faster than me (she is aiming for a BQ at her next marathon, so yeah, way faster than me), but she agreed to run pokey-pace style with me. Yay!

While I was driving to the park, it was pouring buckets of rain. Awesome, just what I dream of. But lo and behold, the rain stopped as I arrived at the park. Though as BB pointed out, it still felt like we were trying to breathe through a straw. Mighty humid today. This park is somewhat hilly and I am somewhat lazy, so my legs were protesting a bit. But we completed our loop without incident, only a couple of short walk breaks and one longer break for me to hit the potty, ahem.

We observed that there are a few groups of runners who frequent this particular park who are distinctly unfriendly and will not say hello or acknowledge us as they run past us in the other direction. Too bad, I like friendly runners and the idea that there is actually a running community.

After BB left, I kind of fell apart. Before she left I was whining a bit about perhaps cutting the rest of my run short but she told me I could do 12. And she was right, I could, but it's funny how much lazier I get when I'm not running with someone else. More walk breaks, slower pace, more mental games to get myself through it. I added the extra 0.1 just because I wanted to exceed my plan so I could feel better about myself. But I finished and I'm glad I stuck it out. My feet felt fairly sore and I'd better get used to it!