In case you somehow missed it, last week was Thanksgiving! Who else ate way too much? I'm going to assume all of you did so that I don't feel quite so bad about myself. I am happy to say I ran 7 miles Thanksgiving morning to help offset some of the calories. Interestingly, while running through town I could actually smell turkey a couple of times. Seriously. There are a couple of houses that had such enticing aromas coming from them that it was hard not to stop and ask for a bite to eat. Since I knew the people they probably wouldn't have been shocked, but I kept running. Mostly because if I did soemthing like that my husband would have a heart attack.
On Saturday I went to Pittsburg to run with someone that I met recently. She's a member of the running forum I'm on and lives not too far away. Her parents live in Pittsburg and since she was coming to visit for Thanksgiving I talked her into doing a long run with me. I've wanted to check out the trails at Wilderness Park for a long time and this seemed like the perfect time to do it. I think Libby was a little skeptical of the whole thing but she met me there anyway. First of all, brrr! It was cold starting out. I really like the trails there though. They are pretty easy compared to my local trails and I like that you can make loops and stop at your car if you need to. As it warmed up we stopped to shed layers, grab extra drinks, gels, etc. We also ventured out of the park a few times and ran on the roads. It wasn't a quick 14 miles but we got it done. I've never done a long run with someone else so I really enjoyed it. The miles go by much quicker when you have someone to chat with. We both neglected to get pics of the trail due to some weirdness at the end of the run so I unfortunately don't have anything to show for my running field trip.
It was so nice to run with someone else and discuss things like nutrition, walking durning ultras, hydration, etc. We talked about PT, massage, injuries, etc. No one that I know really cares how often I hydrate or eat a gel during a run. They definitely don't care what kind of gel I prefer and won't give me tips on what they like and works for them. They don't care that my strategy is to always walk the hills during really long trail runs. When you run with someone else though they do care, because they want to talk about the same things. It's very cool. Or there's a chance that she only listened because she's really nice and wanted to get a long run in and felt like I was holding her hostage. Libby is running FlatRock next year so I got to talk about that. Since it's one of my favorite subjects it was right up my ally.
We had quite an interesting experience. There is a lot more to the story of our run together, but I think that's a story that is best left for another day.
I was worried that 14 miles was too much for me or that I would hold you & your awesome ultra running self back, but it all worked out okay. I loved having you to chat with especially about flatrock (thanks for letting me talk your ear off). I do not in any way feel like I was being held hostage. :o)
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