MishMash Running

I've skipped a few weeks, so I'm going to dump all over you.  Hang on.  That doesn't sound right.  Let me rephrase it:

I've skipped a few weeks, so I'm going to give you a mishmash of my running so far.


Two weeks ago I joined the Burning River Goddesses for a night run, organized by Marta.  We ran 10 miles on the trails at night because at some point we will be running at night for our legs at Burning River. I am leg 5, so in theory I should finish at dusk, but last year the teams I ran with got way off schedule, so I am prepared to start much later.

Marta, Jenn, Dawn, and I are ready--headlamps on!

Full-length shot because we are full-length badasses!

I LOVE running trails at night. I get so jazzed, no matter how tired I was during the day.  There is something exciting about wondering what that noise you heard was: coyote? deer? zombie?  We heard some coyotes twice, and we saw two deer on the trails. I saw three more driving home after midnight.  Yes, it was a very long run.

See how excited I am?

Two days later I ran 15 miles on trails with Jenn and Renee. Jenn and I started at 7 for five miles, and we met Renee for the following 10. It was really relaxing to run with these women. They are so zen, and they don't mind that I am not. Have I ever told you that I have zero-chill?

I spent this week in Lake Cumberland, Kentucky, and it was gorgeous but very hot and humid. The first two days I managed to get up early and run around the marinas a little bit.

Fog coming off lake as the sun rises

Sweat coming off face as the sun rises

I stopped that nonsense by day 3 because it was just too humid, and I was swimming a lot anyway.  I hate swimming, but the lake temperature was perfect, and I know it's good to work my body in different ways than just running.

On Saturday I ran 5 miles of trails with my Mother Runners peeps Kristin and Candice. We will be running Burning River leg 5 (16.2 miles) together.  Kristin and I knew what we were getting into; she is a Burning River pro and we've run together many times. This was the second time I ran with Candice (she doesn't remember the first time or she is very polite, which is good for me either way), and we all did a great job running in a thunderstorm.  Kristin is a doctor.  Candice is a counselor. I am a teacher. None of us is smart enough to get out of the woods during a thunderstorm.  Go figure.

This is before we got soaking wet and muddy.

Today I ran 16 miles all by myself. This is actually a good thing because although I love group running, I'm going to be running the Akron Marathon all by my lonesome, so I have to get used to running long distances alone. I like running alone because I can work through all of my problems (and there are SO MANY of them) without burdening other people.

I'm not going to lie; it wasn't easy today. After mile 11 I allowed myself to walk the first .10 of every mile, but oddly enough my pace was better than it has been in a long time. The average was 10:34, even with the walking.  I'm glad that it didn't slow me down too much because I may need to use this strategy during the hills of the Akron Marathon, and I still intend to PR that baby.  We shall see.

This is EXACTLY how I look after running 16 miles in 90% humidity.

What are you training for? How are you handling the humidity?

Even in this hot weather, make sure you Run Happy, Peeps!

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