My training schedule called for 6 miles today. For the second day in a row rain was in the forecast, and for the second day in a row it held off during my run. Maybe I'm lucky. It was a bit of a restless night of sleep, but I got out of bed and out the door. The 6 miles went by uneventfully.
So I do the majority of my miles in rural America on country gravel roads. I take my dog along and he gets to run around off leash. I get to log my miles on a little more forgiving terrain. I very rarely see other runners, or even cars. It's usually just me, Bo (my dog), and miles of nothing. This is all setup for this past weekend. We took our kids to Omaha to visit the Henry Doorly Zoo. Luckily we have family that lives in Omaha so there is a free place to stay and most of the comforts of home.
Saturday morning I woke up to rain. I have no issues running in rain, however I'm obviously not used to running around cars. About a half mile into my run I was at a corner. A pickup came flying past right through a puddle, soaking my left side from head to toe. These are things I remember doing as a stupid teenager, now I'm regretting it. The rest of the miles went by without issue, but I had my head on a swivel.
Sunday's run called for 11 miles. I was able run on the Keystone - Central and Big Papio trails in Omaha. For the second day in a row I learned some things about running with other people around. The first few bikers that passed me on the trail did the proper thing and announced themselves as they were passing. In the process of announcing themselves they scared the living daylights out of me. I think I jumped on the first 10 bikers that came past. As the miles went by I noticed my legs aren't used to putting in miles on the concrete surface. This is something I should probably work on over the summer. I'm guessing the Chicago Marathon isn't run on gravel roads, so I'll probably work on getting a few long runs in on hard surfaces to train my body for that.
Overall the runs went pretty well. I learned a few lessons about running in the big city (what a hillbilly I am), but those can only make me a better runner...right?
No excuses. Just run.
1 comment:
You know, surface is one thing often overlooked in marathon training. A variety of surfaces helps strengthen key muscles and prepares you for what a race might throw at you.
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