Keeping up

Good morning, Mr. Lactic Acid.

You hurt so good.

Haven’t felt you zapping my muscles for a while. I’ve been running quite a bit lately. But yesterday, I had a real workout.

Met up with my Saturday morning running group as usual. Winter had to get at least one last blast in. As I was driving to the course, snowflakes nearly the size of my palm were flying at my windshield.

It seemed kind of chilly at the start, but after we started running the skies cleared, the temperature rose a bit and it was an awesome morning. A truly beautiful day for a run.

The group was much smaller than usual. Might have been the weather. It certainly looked worse than it turned out to be. We also have a highly popular St. Patrick’s Day run around these parts. Hmm, let’s see: go for a long run out in the boonies in what looks like a blizzard or gather in Westport with thousands of enthusiastic runners, dash for a 5K and then drink beer….hmmm, what to do, what to do?

I took off with my normal pace group, but a fellow participant I had run with before seemed to be edging out in front. I just hung with her and chatted. Within a mile or so, we had left the group behind. We warmed up with a 9:40 and a 9:39, but then proceeded to fire off a few miles in less than 8:30 each.

The course had some good-sized rolling hills, but we just attacked them. We did our last of the 10 miles in 8:33.

I had to dash in the car, get home, shower and then the Oz family hit the road for a daytrip into mid-Missouri. The lack of post-run stretching and then sitting in a car for several hours probably has a lot to do with the slight muscle soreness I am feeling today. No biggie, though. It actually feels good.

Immediately after the run I told my partner that as she edged away from the pace group I was just sticking with her. She looked incredulous and said she thought I was amping up our pace. We both laughed. Not sure who exactly was responsible, but it was a great run.