running: the dawn

This Sunday I had a fabulous running date.  It all started in the spring when I ran the Holy Half Marathon.  There was a group of people from the university where I work that went down for the race and we all of course took pictures after.  Most of the people were people that I’d never met before.  After the race a few added me as friends on Facebook.

One of the runners from that day contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing a long run with her and OF COURSE I would!  I love running with people and anyone willing to embark on an 18 mile adventure is well on their way to being on my list of close friends.  The only problem that I could see going into the weekend: she’s a Gazelle, I’m a Clydesdale.  She is super speedy and built for effortless running.  I have worked really hard to chip away at my times, but alas she still runs her long runs a solid minute and a half per mile faster than I do.  I assured her over and over again that I would not feel bad at all if she needed to head off and get some faster miles done.

We decided that we needed to meet and head out at 5:30am Sunday since she was directing a 5k at noon and needed to be there by 9 to set up.  (She’s even crazier than me!)  I was totally up for going early cause the weather report included highs in the 90′s and all the humidity one can take.  So, Saturday night I set out water along the route, got a good night’s sleep, and woke up ready to get my butt handed to me by the Gazelle.

In what seemed to be the dead of night we headed out away from my house.  I reminded her again that I am much slower and if she ever feels the need to stretch out those made-for-speed legs of her’s I wouldn’t feel offended in the least.  This was an unusual feeling for me.  I felt awkward and unusually self-conscious.  Then it hit me: I have never run with someone faster than me.  I hadn’t ever given it much thought, but usually I’m the established “runner” and everyone else has been friends that I talk into training for races with me.  I’ve run with plenty of beginners and people who are on par with me, but never someone who’s speed would be a stretch for me.

So, how did it go?

Best Experience Ever!  Seriously.  I need to run with Gazelles always.  Well, maybe not always, not sure my fragile self image could handle that…But seriously, it was amazing.  We chatted and ran and chatted some more.  Sure, on the up hills my breathing was reminiscent of a 80-year-old smoker…but I never felt like I needed to stop or slow down.  We didn’t run at her predicted pace (bless her heart) but we ran a full minute per mile faster than I usually do my long runs.  In fact, I ran this 18-miler a full 5 minutes faster than the 17 miles I ran last Sunday!  A mile farther and five minutes faster!

Now, I do understand that long runs are supposed to be slow runs and that you need to run slower so that you can run faster…but MAN that run felt amazing!  It was great to push during a training run and see how my leg/body/mind would respond.  It’s so great to know that there is potential hidden deep inside whenever I need it.

Oh, and did I mention that at 5am it was already 67, well on the way to being 75+ with full humidity?  Take that hot days of summer!

18 miles.  2 hours 43 minutes 43 seconds. 9:06 minutes per mile.