A Welcome Change of Pace

We spent the weekend visiting the hubs' family and attending a wedding in Pennsylvania. FINALLY, some time out of town, away from the relentless and seemingly interminable Florida summer. Every cell of my being was so, so ready for fall weather. HAHA. It was NINETY degrees yesterday. Much cooler at night, though, than we get here, so we drove around and planned out Friday morning's run and I felt confident I'd be enjoying some better temperatures.

Oh, yes indeed.

It was misty and foggy, but I didn't care because I wasn't drowning in my own sweat for once. I'd heard that running in our summer heat can add up to 2 minutes per mile to your pace on a long run, but really? Amazed? Understatement! Imagine my shock when I realized how quickly I'd covered those almost 11 miles, given that what I lack in speed I make up for in determination. On the whole, the run was a lot of fun. The best word to describe the topography of a typical run here is "flat"...okay, that's not the best word, it's the only word. Friday morning I experienced hills for the first time. I'm not going to tell you I loved them at mile 10, but was it fun? You bet. I realized about halfway through that I wasn't doing the sweaty shuffle, I was RUNNING. Still. Then again, there should probably be some credit given to the fact that pacing is something I've been working diligently to manage..

The lesson from the week is this: the sometimes uncomfortable effort required to go uphill is worth every second when you're flying down, feeling like a champ. That's probably something we'd all do well to remember just in life, period, not just running. It's also the reason you get the wayback playback from the iPod - this song, which I can never resist anyway, showed up as I was tackling the third and final loop of the run. I caught myself mid-fist pump and realized I was singing along as I went from one hill to the next.

We took the little man to a wedding, and he wore a tie, and he danced. We took him to a festival, and he met one of the Phillies and petted a bulldog and saw people playing guitars. We took him for walks, and he picked up "treasures". I'm 4 weeks away from my first half-marathon, and I think I'm ready.

I gotta keep on trying 'til I reach the higher ground.