it's been a good week for running... and other things.

I am not usually terribly social during the week... not that I'm anti-social, just busy with work and life and dogs... and then there's a few evening runs to squeeze in, so there isn't much time for going out...

Last week was an exception. Thursday night I skipped the run and went to an outdoor concert, drank sangria and stayed out way past my bedtime. Friday night I went out to another concert, danced my butt off, and didn't get home until 1am... and Saturday morning, as usual, I got up at 5:30 to go meet the team for our long run.

This week I was scheduled to run 16 miles.  Given that we have teammates that are training for different races, and different distances, not everyone was running that far. In fact, it was only me and one other person... and he runs faster than me on my best days.

So I told myself that I would just get out there and see how it went. I knew I would have company for the first 8 miles. (4 miles west on the W&OD trail, and then back to the start... followed by 4 miles east, and back)... at the midway point, I would evaluate how I was doing and decide whether or not to break up my weekend miles into two shorter runs.

But at the midway point, I was feeling great... In fact, feeling better, stronger, smoother, more comfortable than I had been all season. One of my teammates decided to add a couple extra miles to his run, and kept me company for 2 of my second 8.  And then one of my coaches rode his bike out to meet me and kept me company for the final 3.  I finished strong and feeling good... really tired and really hungry, but good. Best run of the season!

Sunday morning it was raining... and I decided to see if I could coax Remsen out for a run on the trail along 234. We have not been successful in the past. The first time I took him out on the trail he didn't last 5 minutes until the noise of the trucks caused him to absolutely panic. The second time I couldn't get him out of the car. But he's come a long way in the past year, so I decided to give it a try. He did great! Unfazed by the rain, unfazed by the traffic... we went about 3.5 miles in total, and he promptly put himself back to bed when we got home. 

This evening we went out again, and ran a little over 4 miles. There was a lot more traffic, and it was hot... and there were cyclists on the trail. But he handled it all like a champ.