Another Long Run

This morning I got up early for a change. This caused Kevin, Zoey (the cat), and Bart (the dog) to all stare at me suspiciously as I bobbed around them in the kitchen, filling water bottles, stuffing power bars and S-caps into pockets, and gulping down a cup of coffee. They are used to seeing me drink my first cup of coffee in bed and then shuffle around in a haze for a while before starting to wake up. Today, I was on a mission!

I drove over to Echo Lake, arriving two hours before the time I had agreed to meet Mary for our two hour Tuesday run. I wandered the trails around the park border and over Cathedral and Whitehorse Ledges at an easy jog. I came back into the park with more time to kill so I headed back out on some nice single track that wasn't on my map. Eventually I came out in a golf course at the base of Whitehorse Ledge. It was getting close to the time I was supposed to meet Mary, so I called her from my cell phone and asked the quickest way back. She lives in the area and was married to an avid golfer for years, so I knew she could tell me. Unfortunately, instead of following her instructions which would take me back on roads, I turned off into the woods as soon as I saw an interesting looking trail that appeared to head in the right direction. So I was a half hour late getting back and Mary had already started running down the road to meet me. My bad.

Thanks to cell phones, we were able to meet up and join forces after I had run almost three hours. We ran over Whitehorse Ledge and towards the Moats, chatting and laughing the whole way. We passed a couple hiking in the opposite direction and the woman said in a pleasant voice, "you girls are certainly enjoying yourselves," and the guy said in a grumpy voice, "they obviously aren't running hard enough." I should have told him how long I'd been at it by then.

We ran two hours together and ended back at Echo Lake, where we jumped into the icy cold water. It felt wonderful. So there's another five hour run in the books. I'll be running a few loops at the Mt Aggie Run this Saturday, but I'll wait for the full week to pass before I do another super long one. Next Tuesday I should be able to run six hours (I hope.) Kevin asked me last night, "how are you feeling about Vermont?" He knows my training is WAY behind this year. I told him I could finish it, and I really believe I can.