Dragging and Planning

Got out of the car at Bradbury to hear Ian say, "Welcome to Saturday running!" Yeah :-)

Doug pulled up and got out of the car saying, "As I was pulling into the lot, there was an advisory on the radio cautioning against exercising outdoors." Boo :(

Well, because we're crazy, and hey, we were there, what did we go but ignore said advisory and go for a run. It has to be good training for something, right?! I must say, however, that although I was happy to be able to join in on a Saturday run, I can't say this was one of my better runs. I was dragging. The humidity was nasty, and it just sucked the life right out of me.

I kept up with the guys - Ian and Nathan plus Doug and Michael, neither of whom I'd met before - for about 3 miles of the Scuffle course, at which point I had to pee and I was beginning to feel that I was probably not going to be able to hold said pace for much longer. After my brief stop in the woods, I ran the rest of the course at a much more leisurely pace, and pulled back into the parking lot to find the guys sitting on a picnic table, dripping in sweat. Well, I was dripping too. It wasn't pretty.

I had told Ian I was planning on 12, so he cheerily said, "6 more?" To which I think I replied, "I feel terrible!" But after a brief stop to compose myself, I agreed to a few more miles. Ian had a plan to run out onto the connector to the bridge, and cut through the woods to a pool in the river. We'd still have to run back, but a dunk in the water sounded good! We wove through a few different trails, avoiding the Boundary Trail, and out onto the Connector, coming up to the river fairly quickly. There, we stopped for a while and chatted as we stood in the water. Then, it was back to the park.

I was lagging behind and pulled up to them to hear Ian say, "Thought we'd tag the summit." Well, OK. Might as well continue the suffering :-) Ha. There was a nice breeze up top and we stopped to take in the hazy vista. Down the Terrace and back to the parking lot, this time with the Garmin reading 9.77. Well, can't stop there! As I ran by the guys sitting on the picnic table, Ian called out, "Getting in a round 10, Danielle?" Yup! :-) A few more minutes, and I was done. I thanked the guys for dragging me around the park, and Ian said, "Well, thanks for embarrassing us by continuing to run after we'd all stopped." My pleasure. If I can't keep up, might as well be able to muscle through a few more 1/10ths to out-distance them for the day! :-) But 10 was more than enough for the day, so I was happy to be done!

We all sat around, not saying much, willing ourselves to stop sweating. Amazing how a rather slow 10 miles can zap one of so much energy when done in what feels like a sauna!

Got home to find that I had gotten into the Stonecat 50!! YIKES! Can't believe I got in! Looks like I've got some planning and training to do :-)