14 non solitary miles...

A friend in my Rotary Club, yep, i'm a rotarian, is an experienced runner and has done a few marathons. His name is Rich and we are also in the Wednesday golf League together. BTW anyone ever need a good CPA? i got your guy right here. SHAMELESS PLUG OVER. MOVIN' ON....

So i ask if we would help me train since saturday's are his big run days and voi'la i have a running date.

New Baltimore, MI at 7:30 am., i never get up this early- marathon training is definitely changing me, we depart for 14 miles/2 hrs of running.

Our cast is myself, Rich, his lovely wife, Cindy (man i'd love to run with my wife, hint hint, since you are my one true constant reader, i'm sure you may read this), and a friend of theirs named Bob.

Our route was a figure 8. Cindy had to bail after one hour to get their kids to a sitter. First hour was almost all country roads, corn fields, dirt, real nice. We went for miles without seeing a car. That never happens at home. It was great.

Quick break after the first 7 miles and Rich, Bob, and i are out the door. Freshly hydrated and Gu'd up for the next half, we strode into downtown New Baltimore. We then ran along the shore of Lake St Clair for a while, headed to Rich's and finished our 14 miles.

First and foremost, a hearty thanks to Rich and Bob for going the whole way with me. Neither of them intended on doing the entire way with me but a funny thing happened. We had a great conversation the entire time. Now this is truly a unique occurrance cause i always run alone. This is the first time i've ever been able to really talk, without scaring people, while running.

Second thing was the advice about Chicago. Now Bob has done Chicago and quite honestly, is not a big fan of it. Too many People. Bob also thought it was a great first Marathon, and that although he would never do it again, i would have a blast if i did a couple things;

run slower than i want to go. the number of people on the course will make me anxious to create room by trying to move ahead of the packs of people. Don't try to do this and just go slow. In the total scheme of things a 30 second per mile decrease in speed accounts for roughly a 15 minutes. What's 15 minutes, really? and...

Look up... he spent so much time looking a the feet of people in front of him that the entire marathon was lost to him. He couldn't tell any of the scenic details to me. His advice to me was to not let this happen.

So i left my longest run ever with a couple new things to ponder. And i'm still trying to work out the details in my head... i felt great. The run tired me but i wasn't exhausted. i will finish the marathon in a respectable time, barring any injury. How much i enjoy the during and after parts of the marathon are dependent on me. I had just figured i would feel terrible at the end of the marathon. Feeling terrible would be a necessary evil to finish. Bob and Rich both helped me realize that i can feel good the entire time.

I have some new thoughts to work out,

More to come on this thought, but until next time...

thanks again for reading