Laura & her parents greeted me at the door. It was 8:02 in the morning and I had just driven 12 minutes to her Lancaster home. We were meeting to run 29k, one of Laura’s last long runs before she ran the New York City Marathon. I was happy to join her on at least one of her long training runs. (In the end we ran 30K because you simply cannot finish a run on an uneven number.)
I haven’t seen Laura in months. We had a lot of catching up to do. After sharing a few morning “hellos” with her family, we were off.
Neither one of us were thinking speed or time. My legs have not run such a long distance on pavement in months. I knew it would hurt “even more” if we pushed it. I’m glad we were on the same training page.
We initially thought that we would around the city in one big loop. But mid-way I learned that Laura has never run in Riverbend. If you have been reading my blog for awhile you will know this is my treadmill. I was happy to introduce Laura to off-road running. You may remember Laura ran a 5 Peaks race with us in Sundre last year. She’s a bit of a princess (just ask her. She will tell you!) but she is a trooper! I am so happy that she enjoyed this route.
With only 4K or so to go, we stopped at my place for a quick pee break, bottle refill and so I could take off my jacket. It worked out really well. My legs (particularly my right one) was feeling the unlove from the pavement around 20K. But generally I felt pretty good. As always Laura was great to run with. Time flew by (save for the last 1.5 km where I was visualising chopping off my right foot).
We were delighted that Roger (Laura’s hubby) had coffee waiting for us. I don’t think he was that impressed that we ran 30k or that we were on the pavement for more than 3 hours. But it was so nice to have hot coffee waiting. Laura ate a few pieces of toast with peanut butter while I enjoyed my coffee. I was craving a big salad! We decided that I would treat myself to a whole bowl from Chopped Leaf. Love this place!
All in all it was a GREAT run. Laura is such a joy to run with! Now I am in taper mode. (I am not even sure what that means anymore at this point). In a week I will be running the Grizzly 50K in Canmore. I am really looking forward to it. I decided that I will skip crossfit this week and throw in an extra swim at the pool. Gotta give my body some rest!
Happy Sunday!
Wow, nice long run! I despise odd numbers…lol. 😉
yes 🙂 even though we were hurting we had to right this wrong 🙂 lol
Grizz will be so AWESOME!!! I am pumped to be doing 3 of the 5 legs!! hope to see you while running at some point. 🙂
Thanks Tina. I am really looking forward to the run. I am positive that I will see you around 🙂
Great to have running companions like the two of you!
For sure!