Seven the hard way

After a week away from my regimented training group, I was a bit nervous for my Saturday long run --- slated for 7 miles.

I got some running in while in Cali, but definitely not the distance or consistent intensity that I'm used to.

To my surprise, the 7 miles (or more precisely...7.2 miles) wasn't that bad. I especially enjoyed the last two miles. I felt strong at the finish. Mile 1 and 2 were as annoying as ever. It's as if it takes that distance to get all my muscles moving in the right direction and into a groove. Once I hit mile three I'm usually in a groove.

We headed out of Georgetown and headed down along the Canal path. That was interesting. The path is dirt and rocks...which actually was a bit challenging. The good thing is that the path is not really big enough for bikers, but the terrain was a bit annoying. And my shoes got dusty!!!

At the half-way point, Coach Katie and my group decided to jump down to the Crescent Trail to finish up. The Crescent runs parallel to Canal, but has shade and is paved. Ahhhh....the pavement was a welcome change. Running on the dirt/rocks sucked.

So my catty story of the day relates to folks who run with accessories that jingle or make noise. This girl was running right behind me for 4 miles with a hydration belt that was making all this noise. It was so irritating. I was happy when we pushed the pace a bit and were able to create a bigger gap between us and her. She mentioned later that we were so fast at the end. Little did she know that she was part of the reason we pressed on with such intensity at the end.

My inspirational story of the day relates to a woman I saw on the trail today. A woman and man appeared to be holding hands while running. I'm all for doing things as a couple, but this level of PDA seemed a bit much. Upon closer inspection, I realized that she was a blind runner and the guy with her was her running coach. They each held an end of a short elastic band and ran next to each other. She was kicking ass down the trail. Truly an inspiration.