Modified Hill Run

The plan was to have another hill party this morning. It started well with Sonya, Rob and Rick meeting up at my house. We even slept in a bit and started at 6:00 instead of 5:15. We headed out into the dark, giving Rob a hard time about not being thawed out yet. Don't worry though, we don't just harass Rob, the teasing is fluid, shifting from one to the other of us effortlessly. I usually get it for my slow reaction time and for my stellar sense of direction. Anyway, we were running along and just when we hit a particularly dark section, Sonya stumbled. She twisted her ankle and couldn't continue. She handed me her car keys, and Rick stayed with her while Rob and I ran back to the house to get her car. I had to laugh when we got in the car, because Rob is quite a bit taller than Sonya and his knees were up around his ears. After fiddling around, he finally found the seat adjustment and we were on our way. We found Sonya and Rick along the side of the road, limping back toward us. Sonya decided to head home and ice, while the three of us went on.

By this time, it was raining big fat drops. After a little discussion, we decided we'd skip the hills and just run another route. That turned out to be a fun decision, and we got plenty of hills in anyway. We ended up doing the last section of the hill run, then backtracked a bit and went into another neighborhood with a hill that I've only ran down, not up. I have been intimidated by this hill for years. It seems so steep whenever I run down it. Rob and Rick said I needed to face my fears. Guess what? Turns out the hill was not bad at all. The guys pointed out that it is nothing compared to some of the others we run, and they were right. Then we decided to head up the big hill to the college, went out the back way on a short bit of path and came out on the hill just above my neighborhood - giving us a nice downhill finish. Total miles (this is for you Rob): 6.7. Add that to the 8.3 I did yesterday on my own, and I've got a good start to the week.

Tomorrow I will run somewhere between three and five miles in the morning (would that be four?) and then about three tomorrow night. We are going to the Fleet Feet Christmas Light run up in Rob's neck of the woods. We've done this run the past two years - it's lots of fun and really pretty.

I'm enjoying this break from work - I'm not going into the office, though I am working on some office projects here at home. I had a good first quarter on the job, but am taking advantage of this chance to get a little breather and give my brain a rest from the "new job" learning curve. Today however, is given over to lunch and shopping with a friend, then a multitude of errands. Last night on the phone my Dad asked me to bring two apple pies on Christmas - he says one piece at Thanksgiving isn't enough. I can't say no to Dad, so I've got to pick up apples today while I'm out. I'll probably start baking on Friday and continue through the weekend. I've got fudge, biscotti, pumpkin bread and apple pies on the dessert menu...

My next marathon is coming up on the 31st. My parents have offered to host anyone from the running club who would like to stay over the night before. So far, Eric and I and three others are in. I think Rob and Steve are going to drive up the morning of the race (Insane - it's 2.5 hours away and the race starts at 8:00!) I'm looking forward to this run - mostly wide trail, running with my friend Margaret, and even though a double out-and-back usually would be boring, somehow I think on trails it'll be nice. Rob was telling me that there might be a sort-of local marathon getting set up for February that I might consider. Eric and I need to do some planning...