I have read most of ultra-marathoner Dean Karnazes’ books over the summer. If you don’t know who he is, Google. He may be a shameless self-promoter, but I like his sense of adventure. One of the quirky things he does frequently is put the family to bed and then go out for a run…until sunrise. It just happens that, like Dean, the best time for me to go run is after everyone else has done their thing and gone to bed. I haven’t run all night (yet) but I have gotten in a few late night long runs.
My neighborhood is next to a multi-use trail that circles an area of the Ross Barnett Reservoir known as Pelahatchie Bay and this is my usual route for a long run. The loop, beginning and ending with my driveway is 11.5 miles. For your enjoyment, I share a few highlights of my latest (as in most previous and also as in the latest I have ever
left for a run) long run.
Saturday, my wife and daughter went to see the late showing
of “The Help”. My 10 year old boys put themselves to sleep the same way they
always do…fighting over the XBOX because “He won’t let me win” with me yelling
at them to stop yelling or else I’ll come in there and … do … … … something.
In between refereeing arguments, I watched the beginning of a really old and
not so really good movie called… “Running” starring a very young Michael
Douglas.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079832/plotsummary
Convinced that any average Joe would be able to make the
Olympic trials in the marathon event (but apparently after his marriage falls
apart and his kids lose respect for him), I was all ready to go out for a run.
If only someone were home to make sure the boys don’t get up and start yelling
at each other…or at least to yell at them to stop yelling whenever they do.
Robin got home in time to save me from watching the entire
movie (and from finding out whether Michael makes it to the Olympics…don’t tell
me if you’ve seen it, I recorded it for later.) I explained that I was going
for a long run and would be back in a few hours. Of course, my wife volunteered
to stay up for me in case I needed someone to fix a Ovaltine/protein recovery
shake and massage sore hamstrings. At least, I think that’s what she meant by
“Don’t wake me up when you get back.” That’s when it occurred to me that I
didn’t have a clue as to what time it was. 11:30 pm. At least it’s still
Saturday.
Oh, almost forgot Robin’s other words of encouragement…”It’s
raining.” “It’s what? Raining? Like, with thunder and lightning or just with
drops of water?” No matter, I’ve got my gear on by now and ready to hit the
road. As hot as it has been this summer, a few drops of rain will be welcome. A quick check that I have everything I need, including a ziplock bag to keep my phone dry in case I need to call from, I don’t know, Vicksburg or something (You never know, I might
feel like running ALL night) and I’m out the door to discover…the rain has
stopped and it didn’t cool anything off.
I click on my headlamp, reset the timer on my Garmin watch
and Olympic trials, here I come.
Continue reading →
My first full marathon is now only seven weeks away. Training consistently has been difficult in this brutally hot summer. At this point, I know I’m half-marathon fit, but I’m worried that I’m not marathon fit. After today’s long run, I’m pretty sure a DNF is not in my future but the last ten miles are going to be an awful struggle.
