February Fat Ass Run

This morning was Val and Linda's February Fat Ass run. And hurray! I was able to take the day off so that we could all go over and hang out, and Ryan could get in his long run. On my end, I was simply planning to play it by ear. If someone was up for hanging with Sam so I could run, great. If not, that was OK too. But almost as soon as we got out of the car, Kate told me that she was more than happy to hang with Sam, so I was psyched to take her up on her offer! Thanks Kate! You are the best!! We got situated in the house, and I left Kate and Sam cuddled on the couch reading. I knew Sam would have a blast with Kate, so I wasn't worried at all.

Val, Linda and Bethany had created, marked and packed a course that wandered through the fields around their house. We headed off single file onto the first stretch through the woods, and it was all I could do to just keep my feet under me! Things were pretty uneven, and a few people fell through the edge of the packed track within the first 100 yards. I was concentrating so hard on my footing I didn't even chat with Mindy, who was right behind me, until we turned onto the wider, groomed snowmobile track at the field!

It was pretty windy, but warm, and out of the wind, I was working up a sweat. Of course, the second we turned into the wind, back on went my gloves and I was pushing to stay upright :-) But hey, it is a February Fat Ass. Can't be too easy :-) No seriously, the course was great, and I had a blast chatting first with Mindy, Emma and Dora, then with Ian, and finally with Jeremy and Jim, as we ran along. I actually felt pretty good, and probably could have kept going for another lap easily. But, I wanted to make sure Kate had a chance to run, and honestly, this 5.25 miles put my mileage for the week just over 40 miles, which is a lot for me! I think it is good for me, especially at this point in my 50k training, but I didn't want to push it too much. In fact, I looked back over the training logs I have downstairs (2006 through 2010) while I was eating lunch a few minutes ago, and since January of 2006, there has been only one other week - a week in August of 2008 when we were training for MDI - that I have run over 40 miles. There have been a lot of weeks in the 30s of course, but still. I don't know what this says about me as a runner though, but oh well. I'm happy to see a 40 mile week in the books again!

After I finished my lap, we sent Kate on her way, and Sam and I hung out inside for a bit, patting Val's dog, Spot, eating grapes, saying hi to everyone who came inside for a bathroom break or a snack, and walking around the house. I wish we could have hung out longer, but it was time to get Sam home for lunch and a snack. We headed on home just after Ryan and a group of the other fast guys came through for the finish of their 2nd lap. Thanks so much to Val and Linda for a fun event, and thanks again to Kate for hanging with Sam so I could get out there! Today's run was a great way to cap off a solid week of training, and it was lots of fun to see everyone!