Getting Crazier!!!

OK so after some debating about what to do about my 20 miler, I decided that was what was going to take priority for the weekend.

Thursday , I emailed Mel to see if she would be up for a Saturday run and then Thursday night at the running club ladies Boston send off party (GO BOSTON PEOPLE!), I talked to Liz about the possiblility of squeezing in a 20 miler Saturday. Well, Liz's family was in town so her only option was super early Saturday morning. I am all for company so I decided I could handle that and told her I would be willing to start as early as she needed. So then Friday, Mel emailed, and I could not believe she too agreed to meet at that early hour for a 20 mile run.

So the three of us planned to meet at 5:20 AM Saturday morning to run a hilly 20 miler. I think my husband thought I had lost my mind when I told that I was meeting at that hour on the weekend for a run. He proceeded to go on that the craziest thing was that I even had two other crazy people meeting me at that hour. Aghhh, these are the runs that you remember and are a little special, in my opinion though!

So hopped out of bed rather easily that morning just after 4 and headed off to Bedford. Actually Mel and I were a little late as I was a bit off on where we were starting, but after some phone calls we found the right place. Thank goodness for cell phones!!!

Liz had a headlamp and I had a little flashlight that lit the way as we took off on a metropark trail. The course started off with a nice long climb. We started out in Bedford and ran out towards the S. Chagrin reservation and then headed back the same way. The funny thing is that when it is dark, you can feel yourself working harder, but you definitely don't realize how rolling a course is until it is light out....and there were a lot more rollers on the way back that I had not noticed on the way out!

The morning was really a perfect one for a run and Liz and I were both stripping our coat off before we got too far along. Before long, the sun had risen and we were done with our run.

This was 20 miler number three in my FIRST training and I am happy to say they are continuing to go well. I attribute so much of this to my company. This run was not one of the faster 20 milers (and my watch kept messing up which may have been a good thing!!!) but it was easily the hilliest. I also will admit that I kind of enjoyed starting the long run earlier as not only was it gorgeous, but I also had a nice long Saturday morning which consisted of other activities besides running.

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Duathlon update
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The duathlon scheduled for Sunday was postponed for two weeks given the weather. I saw the notice on the race website, got an email, saw a post from the NCN Race Director on the Clev Tri Club site and then even got a call from the Race Director who was personally calling everyone. Talk about going above and beyond!!!

Honestly I was thrilled at the news. It snowed over night Saturday and was sleeting, windy, and very cold on Sunday. I would have froze my butt off and there was no way I wanted any part of riding a bike outside in those conditions! So everything worked out perfectly! Now we just need the weather to turn around!!!