When You Can

A view of the White Mountains from Osgood Trail. My camera won't do night running shots, so you get a cool, scenic photo, rather than downtown Easton at night.

Running and writing for me are both best done whenever I can, rather than waiting for the perfect time or opening in my schedule. Those times rarely show up these days.

I am supposed to be in the heavy part of marathon and JFK 50 training, but can't seem to get the miles in. There is one notable exception worth sharing.

Monday, 9/03 I was hoping to get a longish run in, and realized I had too much to do, too many obligations to make it happen. I realized this after macking down hot wings and pizza for dinner Sunday night. So I did what any runner off his or her rocker would do during marathon training: put on a reflective vest, ipod, water bottles and went for a 2 hour, 11 minute, 52 second run at 10:30 p.m.

I created an extended loop around Easton--Chapel Road to Washington Street, to Aurora Street, up to Washington Street where it connects past Dutchmans Lane, back up to Peachblossom Road, past the YMCA, turn at Thread Haven, back onto Washington Street, past the hospital, all the way back down to the V-intersection of Washington and Aurora. That's the loop, which I ran three times through before heading home. I got some odd looks from folks sitting on their porches, but really, who sits on their porch at 11:30 at night? It was a 14-ish mile run, which I greatly appreciated for all the ways it was fun and different.

My next run was a 7-mile run in 59:51 with Mike Keene up the Easton Rails-to-Trails and Oxford Road and back. And those are my only two runs since the Annapolis 10-miler. So I've got the sweet once-a-week training plan going.

Some real frustration, but with school starting back for Robin and Anna, fall events running full force at work, and other life stuff taking a front seat, it's all there has been (please see 5 - and 2-year-old daughter handbook). My next run is going to be a 22-ish mile run from home to the Oxford Market in Oxford--where they stock Gatorade for resupply--and back home. Hopefully that will answer some of the distance questions. Then I'd like to get 3-4 solid weeks before tapering for Baltimore. There may be some more night running in the forecast!