A Run Between Friends

Today was my first run in a long, long time with my good friend, Tia. You may recall my mentioning Tia from time to time. I can only hope to be half as good a runner as Tia. Tia comes into work on Monday mornings saying things like "I ran sixteen miles this weekend. I feel great". Stuff like that. You know the type.

So this afternoon, we are at work (I'm minding my own business) and somehow the topic of running comes up. I can't remember how - it's all a blur. Either I mentioned it or she did, but we determined that we are both in fact going to run after work and shouldn't we just run together. Now - TIA recommended we run together.

I have sort of sworn off running with partners for the time being. I am a fish out of water. A non-runner in a runner's world. I simply cannot run without my iPod either. Not to be outdone by the fact that it takes a full half an hour for me to find a stride that works for me. I spend more time bent over massaging my legs, waiting for them to warm up sometimes than I do actually running. Someone like me would most certainly slow down a powerhouse flash of lightening like Tia.

Eventually, I agreed to run with her. First of all, she was planning to run 4, while I planned on 6 so clearly 4 miles were WAY more appealing. In addition, not only did she agree that I could take my iPod to use in case of an "emergency", she also agreed to carry me home if I flat-out collapsed trying to show-off in front of her. Tia is indeed a good friend.

So she emails the route to me from gpedometer shortly before we leave the office. Now, we were running from my house (which is on a hill), so I knew we'd have to do some hills. I did not, however, realize we would do so many hills.

When we left the house, the first thing we did was go West, which happened to be UP a humongous hill. I decide to keep my mouth shut and just grin and bear it. I focused on the reward that was the downhill on the other side. Little did I realize, however, that there are loads of little undulations in the roads to the west of me. I felt constantly like I was going uphill. Finally, after 30 minutes of listening to Tia say "I do love hills" each time we'd approach one, I said to her "Well, you are a freak of nature". I meant for this to sound like a joke, but believe you me - it is difficult to project sarcasm when you are out of breath.

Tia was a good sport. We had to stop for me to stretch exactly 1,000 times for the first 25 minutes or so. All in all, though, we must not have been too slow. We were out for 45 minutes and we ran 4.2 miles. I swear half of it was uphill in one way or other, too. Maybe I'm exaggerating, though. I don't know.

I did not need my iPod. Tia can run and talk quite well, so we had lively conversation and it kept me distracted enough from the misery in my legs. My feet felt extremely heavy again, as they did in the middle of last week, and they also felt very tired.

Funny thing, which I kept to myself: The last hill we climbed (which was a mammoth) sort of pushed me over the edge of discomfort and I felt great finishing off the run. I did not tell Tia. I don't want to ruin my street-cred as one who dislikes hills.

My plan is to run tomorrow as well, and then do only some minor walking and weight training on Saturday. On Sunday, I plan to run either 11 or 12 miles. The half-marathon is in ten days! Whoa!