JUMPING AHEAD

I had 18 miles on my schedule for this weekend, and with the huge storms (the ones with tornado warnings that delayed flights and left mom and grandma stranded at the airport for 10 hours... then in Houston overnight) and wanting to spend time with my mom and grandma before they departed yesterday, I pushed my long run to today. I figured I'd have to do 10-12 of it solo (since Michelle graciously agreed to get up and do her last taper run with me to get me started), but ended up with an invite to join Amy and Tank for their final long run before tapering for Rock N' Roll NOLA later this month (Michelle came along and started out with us at 5:00am - good practice for her 5:00am half marathon start at Disney this coming weekend!) They had 22 on their schedule though, and I wasn't planning to run that distance for another 4 weeks (which was suppose to be my peak mileage before Greenville), so I figured I'd show up and do what I felt comfortable with, then bow out early... Well, I felt pretty dang good, so I stuck it out with them. Which means I now have to rework the final 6 weeks of my training plan. Not too big a deal, but I'll have to decide whether I just push the previously scheduled runs around, or if I instead do another 1-2 really big runs with some shorter miles in between... Pretty sure I'll just figure it out as I go along based on how I feel...

Amy and Tank in front of the train bridge over the Big Black River

We ran around Bovina today, along Warriors Trail and Mt. Alban road, out to and across the Big Black River (pictured above, quite swollen from yesterday's storms), then back to Tank's house (we couldn't park at the church because, Sunday). It was less hilly than the park, and our early miles (up through mile 14) were relatively speedy (in long run terms) with almost no walk breaks. The final miles got tough though, as expected, and we were all glad to just get them done no matter how many walk breaks it took near the end. I was thankful to not have any real aches anywhere (my shins have been bugging me since the beach) and to have company for all those miles! I'm loving my winter running this year, but at the same time it's hard not to dream ahead a little bit to the likely break I'll be taking this spring or summer (to hopefully heal my plantar fasciitis once and for all). I really get into training and schedules, I enjoy the sweat and the conversation with friends, but even so, it's possible to get burned out and I don't want to reach that point. Hopefully mixing up road and trail more in these final weeks will help me to keep feeling fresh and strong. Only time will tell. Greenville is less than 6 weeks away now, on Valentine's Day, and MS 50 is just 3 weeks after that, so if I can just stay motivated and happy through then, I'll be pleased.