So, I made it ten miles yesterday without walking or anything! It seems silly to be saying that, but I haven’t been doing much longish stuff lately and though I’ve been awfully speedy in the short distances, I’ve definitely lost some endurance over the past few months. So, I headed out for 4 miles with Alice, dropped her by the house and continued on for 6 more miles. I ran my 6 at just over 8 minutes per mile, finishing the full ten at an 8:48 pace.
Today, I ran downtown to cheer an old friend on in the St. Anthony’s triathlon. I was Kate’s homecoming date in high school and I haven’t seen her in 5 years or so. I caught her at the end of her 25 mile bike ride and yelled “Go Kate!”. She turned, instantly spotted me, smiled and said, “Hi Brian!” as though she had just encountered me at a cocktail party.
I instantly ran past the transition area to the other side and cheered again, slapping her hand. She thanked me for showing up, as though she had seen the last of me. Ha!
I jogged ahead and cheered again. Then, jogged ahead and cheered again.
“Are you going to do this for the entire 6 miles?” she asked. I was thinking it might not be a bad idea. I hadn’t been able to give a monetary donation to her Team in Training cause, and I couldn’t bring a large, multi-person cheering section. So, I figured why not one person in multiple locations?
I ran ahead of her several times through the 1.5 mile mark and then let her go for a run in peace. On her way back, I cheered some more, then joined her on the course. We chatted a bit through the last mile or so as I ran “rogue”. I peeled off just before the finishing chute and met her at the finish. It was kind of fun. I will say that I’ve never felt so fresh at the end of a race. After chatting some more, I ran back home. All told, I did 9 miles today! So, to recap the week:
Monday: 3 miles easy
Tuesday AM: 8 mile fartlek(ish) run
Tuesday PM: 3 miles easy
Wednesday AM: 2 miles Easy + upper body and core strength training
Wednesday PM: 3 miles easy
Thursday: 3 miles easy
Friday: Off
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: 9 miles (on and off)
Sounds like a good week of running. I am glad you are finding the “fun” in running again. Keep it up!!!
Looks like a great week of running Brian. I had to take Sunday off. No amount of bad music was going to make me change my mind. I’ll be posting about it tomorrow AM.
Hey, it’s nice to read that you had a good, and dare I say, enjoyable, run. And kudos for being a supportive friend during the race, that’s pretty cool.
Very cool thing to do for Kate, I bet that made her race.
Brian! You are a great friend dude! That’s pretty amazing that you helped cheer on a former flame– You make the rest of us guys look bad 🙂
Glad you had a good long run. I am aiming for 10 miles this week– actually mapping it out on gmaps pedometer today.
I’m glad you had a good long run. No more burnout for you!
not a bad week friend. i was expecting kate to follow that up with “-cause it’s really annoying”, lol. but i’m glad that wasn’t the case.
when you’re done with your 19:34 just drop it in the mail to me ok? i was soo ticked that i couldn’t step up and throw a good time back at you. ’twas all your fault. :-p
Great job on the 10 mile run!! You are one good cheer person for running along with your friend!
The best part of the run was Brian telling me his daughter ran about the same pace. Granted, I had just biked 24 miles too. Thanks Brian for the support. Much appreciated. See you next year!