Yesterday I set out on my last double digit run heading in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon at Grandma's Marathon in two weeks. After a seriously long and cold winter/spring, we have enjoyed some summer-like weather the past few days and even saw our first 90 of the season on Friday afternoon. Saturday was promising to be just as hot, so in hindsight, I might have been better off getting up a little earlier than my 6am start. I ran the first 5.5 miles clipping along at paces of around 9--O'somethings. At that point I picked up Deb at my house and we both noticed the temperatures were warmer than we've had in quite a while and climbing.
At around 8 miles, Deb had enough of the heat and decided to take a walk break. Not wanting to interrupt my long run, we agreed that I'd run ahead a while and come back. After I'd done that and we got to 9 miles, she'd really had enough. We were in a good spot for her to walk a shortcut around the park while I ran around and through. We agreed to meet at the park entrance assuming I'd be done somewhere in the park and walk out. Well this became the run that WOULD NOT END. I came through the park thinking I was just about done and saw my miles at 9.47...got to the edge of the park and it was now 9.76. I began to think of an old kids song..."The Song that Never Ends." You can hear it here. I continued out of the park and down the hill humming along that "it goes on and on forever just because..." I got to the bottom of the hill and now it's 9.89 miles. Yikes, when will 10.00 ever show up??? I headed back up the hill to meet Deb and finally got my finishing beep. Deb was just as surprised as I that I had to go all the down and partway back up the hill! I am a rule follower as far as distance goes...if my plan says 10 miles, I will not stop at 9.87 without a darn good reason. A couple summers ago, I went to Wyoming with David and his cross country team. We did an 11-miler one of the last days. Imagine my dismay when I had made it through a country road, multiple cattle gates and a 4,000 foot altitude climb only to find out I had to run PAST the bus to the next cattle gate and back to finish. The other parents did point out that I'm an adult and the coaches can't make me do it, but I pointed out an important detail...I was wearing the Garmin and would know if I did 11 miles or some other random distance. On the flip side, if I finish my long run a block or two from home, I feel perfectly free to walk home! I hope that you have some good runs this week even if it becomes a run that never ends, because this one was a good run, but it was sure an effort to get that beep at 10.00 miles! Happy running--Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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