Runners' Weekend

Saturday started all wrong. Son C. had to be delivered to a cross country meet by 6:20 a.m. Normally - no problem: I drive. I run before the races. I watch the races.
Well, last week he complained that Mrs. T. never came to see him run so we had to factor her schedule into the morning. She was not going to go anywhere at 6:20 a.m. so I had to take him to the meet and come back. My cool morning window for running slammed shut. We arrived at the meet (with 1700 runners!) just as the varisty boys were on the course. Parking was a nightmare at the high school where the cross country meet, a volleyball tournament and softball tournament were all being held at the same time. Talk about overbooked!
We watched the finish. Our 4-time defending state champions finished 5th. Ouch. #1 was out with an achilles injury so the result was predictable. The team goal is another state championship and that's a ways off. Next week the varsity goes to the Great American, an elite team and individual meet in North Carolina.
So it's 9:00 a.m. and we have to wait until 10:30 for the JV boys to race. Mrs. T. is hot. She's complaining. It IS hot so we hole up in the shade to read the paper. I'd have been running around watching the other races but .....
At 10:00 we went back out to the course to wait and then watch the JV race at 10:30. Son C. did well. No PR but he said he felt a "runner's high" shortly after the race. That was the first time he'd ever said that so there is hope. I took a picture of him with his mom so she could point it out to him in the future that she did, in fact, attend one of his races this year.

We're home at 12:30. It's blazing hot, hazy and humid. I've got to make a decision. I wanted to do five miles today before my longer outing Sunday morning at 7:00. Go now in the brutal heat of the day or run in the evening with little recovery time before the next run?
I ran in the heat. I just took it reallllly slow like the Kenyans do. I felt fine. I felt better for having run. It ended my funk. I was going through withdrawal being off schedule. Argh.

Sunday. Back to normal. I was up at 5:30 having breakfast. Made it to Park Avenue by 6:55 and was off and running with a slew of runners today. Where'd they all come from? At the mile 4 water stop I switched groups and enjoyed a different pace and new company. All is well. I put in 7.25 miles at a good 9:10 pace.
I kept thinking about all the marathon and half-marathon runners I know who are peaking in their training as they focus on the Oct. 8-9 weekend. Hartford and Chicago come to mind. I'll be at Disney that day doing a little ol' 10K but it's all good. I hope your runs were not too hard this weekend.
Now I better go do my homework or I'll be one cranky overworked unheard from blogger this week.