"Just" my a*@

Ok, 13 miles is a long way to run.

At least it was on Saturday. I knew it was going to be a hard run when I was ready to be done running at mile 2.
Speaking of mile 2 and asses, allow me to share some advice:

If you need to do your business en route and there is no port a potty handy, and you choose a bush off the path to squat behind,

1) go farther than 6 inches off the road

2) make sure to choose a bush with some, well some bush to it.

Otherwise a blue bird day suddenly has a full moon.

Or, at least it did at mile 2 when one woman didn't follow my advice- and me without my camera.

That made me laugh, and the miles started going a little easier.

It's a good run that winds through a nature center on an early Saturday morning. The deer and horse flies took the morning off, which if you know MN wooded areas you know we witnessed a miracle.

There were 6 water stations, each mananged by various school kids and civic groups-God bless em. I used these to slow down, even walking, to re group, and thank them for their help. They were equally grateful, as this race almost singlehandedly underwrites the budget of the city nature center. Now that's creative funding!

The absolute highlight was mile 7 when the race ran down the street of some good friends of ours. Tridaddy had bounced the tribe out of bed, and they sacrificed Saturday morning cartoons to stand on the curb and cheer like crazy.

I couldn't find my watch, which meant I had no clue how fast I was running. I now know I run faster with a watch. Time is like that, quantifying it always applies more pressure. This was no white rabbit morning however, and I felt like I was putzing along. I had set the stop watch of my mp3 player and sure enough, it read 1:03 when I hit mile 7. That was nine minute miles and my goal was to finish between 1:47 and 2:00. I pushed a little harder, but I could have sworn my legs had encountered a cosmic storm morphing them into a not so "Fantastic Four" hundred pounds. (a pretty good flick according to TD, Soap and SLJ)

A little mental victory at mile 10, officially passing the current "longest distance I'd ever raced". Then onto plod, plod, plod. There was no way I wasn't going to run this entire course, the only walking would be the water stops, quitting is not an option. At mile 9 I passed a friend on the sidelines cheering. She generally runs the same pace as I; "Are you finished?"
See how inept my brain becomes when I'm just trying to run-that was some crazy math there, 4 miles + time to track back 4 miles to stand there cheering.... thank goodness she had dropped from the race.

duh!

I just felt so slow.

Then mile 11 passed, quick water break,

mile 12 water break, push with everything left, cursing every drop of alcohol I'd drank the week before, which wasn't much but is generally the main reason to me for lead legs..

mile 13--finish line

I'll be damned--not 2:20 as expected, or 2:10 which was hopeful, or even 2:00 that darn clock said 1:54... which means I ran the final 6 miles in ...

well you do the math.

Finally, my favorite running buddy, Henry. He's married to one of my dearest friends and is the most calming, encouraging people I know. It's a good race when Henry is at the start and finish line.
Look for his blog, "The Poet Runs" coming to a link bar soon.