by sierra on Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:58 pm
Friday would have been a beautiful day to run, but it was my off day and I slept in instead.
The mornings all started off about the same way - in the 50's with a nice breeze. Andy went out Saturday and rode for three hours. The trail was very active and I guess the group he had planned to email and see if he could ride with was out. Maybe next time. I ran Saturday night. I didn't go to the trail, but just ran down the dirt road by my mom's house. Two cars passed me and were nice enough to slow down and not kick up a huge dust cloud.
Sunday morning was my 5 mile race. It was in Burton in a pretty big Amish area. The race started by the fairgrounds, looped around, and ended up back at the grandstand. It had a lot more hills than I thought it would. Miles 1-3 had water stops before them, which was nice but threw me off at mile 4. I kept looking for that water stop so I knew where the mile marker was. The roads were so long and straight that I could see the lead male runner way ahead (too far ahead!). It was through a rural area and there was no traffic to worry about. It was around mile four where I was trying to climb yet another hill and had to step all around horse poop. As I was coming down that hill, all of this beautiful singing came out of a barn on the other side. I think the Amish were having a service. They had mentioned that you run half way around the track before you finish. I didn't even think about it being a horse track and 800 meters, not 400. All and all, I plan to run it again next year. Can't beat a $15 5 miler (with a shirt and fair entrance).
Monday I decided to get my long run in. I knew this week would be busy and this would be my last good chance to get out. I usually start my long runs around 6, but let myself sleep in and start at 7. The bad part of that was that my run was going to be 15 miles. The morning was very cool again. It was about 3 1/2 miles to the trail from my mom’s, mostly flat. However, my legs were trashed and I had to actually keep stopping, stretch for a minute, and start again. About a half mile before I got on the trail I tripped. I'm still not sure how it happened, but thankfully no one saw me. Once one the trail I decided to leave my water bottle at the 13 mile mark and grab it before I left the trail. It was very quiet and shady on the trail, with just the occasional cyclist going by. I realized about five miles in that I never ate breakfast. That's okay, I told myself, Andy will come out and check on you. So I spent most of the time left on the trail waiting for Andy to show up either on his bike or at one of the small access parking lots with water and some kind of snack. I had to make a difficult choice on the trail. At the turn around point I needed to find a bathroom. I knew where I was on the trail and if I went another mile up there would be a bathroom. However, that would mean adding two more miles onto a 15 mile run, which was already as miserable as could be. Or I could turn around, like I had planned, and wait for the port-a-potty that was sitting right where I entered the trail, four miles back. So naturally I decided to make this an endurance event and wait four miles. I should mention that I did think about just running up to my mother-in-laws, who lives right off of the trail, having some coffee and breakfast with her, and calling Andy to come and pick me up. I decided against this because Andy should have been packing the car up to leave. Anyway, the next few miles were not fun. I of course straightened myself up whenever I saw someone coming up on me. I might be miserable, but I'll at least pretend to have good form! I finally saw the mile marker up ahead and was excited. I could have a drink of water and the bathroom was only a half mile further. Only, when I got there did I realize that it was mile marker 14 and not 13. Noooo! I probably would have yelled or something, but I saw more people coming and it was time to keep moving. Finally I found the correct mile marker, but had way less water than I thought. That stunk. And finally, there was the bathroom. Luckily, it wasn't too gross. So that left the three and a half miles back to my mom's. Once I stepped off of the nice shady trail, I was running right into the sun. Thankfully, it wasn't too hot, but still miserable. I kept waiting for Andy to show as I made the slow trek back. After two hours and fifteen minutes of running, I was back. The only thing that kept me from going right back to bed was the need to pack right away. Andy had been sleeping the whole time!
