I have been running. Mostly early morning these days, before the sun is up and while the temp is as low as it will get (which hasn’t been below 70 much lately).
Last November (I remember a lot of things that happened in November, because I remember sitting in the office in Raleigh while doing it, the month I spent every workday in Raleigh) a friend called me up to see if I had been serious about doing the running portion of the Ramblin’ Rose triathlon with her. She swims (which I do not do) and we both bike. She says her least favorite part is the running so she was happy to have me along to relay on one or two of the triathlons. I said sure thing and signed up (and then realized the Ramblin’ Rose is always on a Sunday, bummer!).
It’s a mini-triathlon so the distances are shorter. It’s also women only which means we aren’t feeling any need to compete with guys who are naturally stronger and faster than us and we can feel a little less self-conscious being out there.
The first one was this past Sunday in Rock Hill. My great friend Charlotte lives 5 minutes away from the venue so I trecked down there Saturday and spend a lovely afternoon and evening visiting, pushing Rachel in the swing, holding Sterling, and eating a wonderful dinner. Luke was a tad disappointed that I wasn’t pushing him around the house, but I had moved friends all morning and had a race the next day so I was hesitant to work that hard. Next time, buddy.
I headed to the Y and met Dawn and we got signed up and then waited around for the start. Dawn swam (she did very well) and then jumped on her bike and took off. About this time, the first women in the water were already returning on their bikes and starting their run. Oh well, they were younger and obviously have too much time on their hands to be that fit 🙂
During the swim, I stood around and chatted with a man from this area who had a slight crush on a friend back when they were in high school. Such a small world. During the bike ride I was chatting with his daughter. Her mother was out on the bike and she was doing the run portion.
Dawn came in, I grabbed that chip from around her ankle and got it on mine. I left her to rest up and I took off! Two miles – flat and 2/3 of it in the shade. A nice route. I had people pass me, I passed people, I ran too fast and had to walk some. And it was all good.
When I was “training” this spring/summer I tried steady runs, and I did interval runs. Either way, I averaged about 22.5 minutes to do 2 miles. I warned Dawn I didn’t want to ruin her average 🙂
My watch was having issues (turned out to be user error) so I didn’t have it with me and had no idea how well I had actually done. Then, I abandoned Dawn to return to church in time to sing the anthem and hear the sermon (totally worth it – we did a great song and the sermon was timely (evidence in the prior 2 posts).
Dawn called to let me know we came in second among the 4 relay teams so we got a mug! I also got a shirt, a necklace, and a water bottle just for being in it. All cool, but the best part was Dawn praying for us before it all started.
Next up – Winston Salem in August. We’re pumped! I just hope I don’t have to beat my record from Rock Hill. 🙂
We’re the Purplicious team.
Recovery this week was interesting. I was tired Sunday, but didn’t really get a nap since we got 5 phone calls (we usually get 0). Some allowed us to be helpful, and a few were a lot of fun celebrating with Charlotte and Mom how well it went.
Tuesday I dragged Beth out with me for a slow and short run. It wore me out for the rest of the day, but it was good to get moving. I recovered well the next day and headed back out Friday evening while it was cool and cloudy. I ran almost 5 miles. We’ll see how training goes for the next month, with a week in Mexico in the middle.
