On the Road Again: 9 miles

Sometimes, no matter how much you want it to be, a run just isn’t awesome.

And so begins the tale of Mandy and Alisha’s 9-mile training run.

First, let’s just get a few things out there: • We had to run in the afternoon because Alisha had to work on Saturday morning and neither of us really wanted to run in the afternoon—or at all. Training runs are so much better when you just get out there on Saturday morning and knock them out before your body realizes what you’re doing.

• It’s been kind of uncommonly hot around here.

• Running long distances when you’re exhausted (especially emotionally) is hard, even if your annoying friend insists you still go for the run.

So, we didn’t expect this to be a run in which we set any personal records. The goal was the cover the distance, no matter if we had to run, walk, or crawl to do it. At least, that was my goal. Alisha’s was to talk me out of running altogether.

Needless to say, that didn’t work.

But perhaps, the best way to tell this story is in pictures. Well, badly drawn cartoons, I guess.

Alisha, upon arriving at my house for the run. She hadn't changed into her running clothes yet. She rocks brown triangle dresses. Also, I forgot that Alisha wears glasses when I drew this. . .

Me being bossy. And a bit overly dramatic. But hey, skipping a training run is BAD!

When I texted Alisha these drawings, I apologized for her glasses. Obviously, drawing is not a talent of mine.

At this point, Alisha was probably mad at me. I'd promised it wouldn't rain, and you can see how that turned out. Plus, I kept speeding up without realizing it.

At this point, we heard someone in the soccer fields near where the car was parked talking on a loud speaker. We have NO idea what they said. Hopefully, it wasn't "TAKE COVER!"

And immediately following this, I went into a gas station soaking wet to buy vitamin water. The employees had the good sense not to ask questions.

So here’s Week 6′s run by the numbers:

Distance: 9 miles Location: Crockett Park and trails Time: 1:48 Average pace: 11’58″ (Yes, it’s slower than last week, but at least we finished!) If you want to see it on GPS, go here: http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/plus/#//runs/gps/1625581486/757736303/As I train for the half marathon, you’ll see more posts like this. I’m planning to document each long run, so you’ll get to come alongside me for every mile, every irrational I-hate-running-and-why-did-I-sign-up-for-this moment, and every completely random adventure that happens along the way.

#runninginrain #running #training #halfmarathon #runwalk #9miles