The Two Wows

Today was the second training day on the AREC (A Running Experience Club) marathon and half marathon schedule. Four miles for the half marathoners and six miles for the full marathoners were on tap. My alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m., and I'm wondering why am I doing this when I could be sleeping in. After all I have to go to work later tonight. But it gives my early Saturday mornings a purpose, so out of bed I get. For some reason I felt very tired and just couldn't wake up fully. I got to Joe's Crab Shack and someone was talking to me and I couldn't even respond very well - I was mispronouncing words. When the run started I was even feeling a little lightheaded. But oh well, I guess we just need to have a little blood pumping up to the brain. I started the run conservatively as planned and tucked behind some people I've run with in past years, but whenever I saw somebody up front whom I thought I could catch, or when somebody passed me, I could feel the urge to pick up the pace. But today, I kept thinking about preserving my ankles so I was able to resist the urge to go faster. My goals have changed, now its just to finish the run and increase my running longevity. The run went pretty smoothly and I talked to someone I haven't met before. Although there was some effort, I didn't feel like I was pushing so it surprised me that I was able to finish the six mile run in under an hour. That was the first wow. The second wow happened when I signed back in on the roster (we sign in before the start, then sign out when we finish so everyone is accounted for). There were 82 people who signed the roster today! Unbelievable! I don't think that many people have ever done the Saturday run before. I already commented to other runners during the run that it seemed there were more people this week than last, and the roster confirmed it. Well, its seems like this old fogey can still run under 10 minutes per mile despite the ankle ailments and at a conservative pace at that. Of course since there are more participants now, there is a better chance of finding someone to pace with, and that helps a lot. Now its time to ice the ankles.