Hills and Humidity

So I woke up today at 6:15 to thunderstorms and rain, exactly the stuff you want to hit the snooze alarm and continue to sleep to run in.  9 minutes later I figured I should check the radar to see if the long run was going to happen this am.  The storm was almost done so couldn't use that as a cop out.  Crap maybe Carrie will cancel?

I was tired.  I tossed and turned last night and woke up at 2 hungry.  Then I could hear our new neighbors out on their patio talking, which I was curious to listen to them since we've yet to meet them and I'm nosy.  Got up and scarfed down a yogurt and finally fell asleep.  Anyways, back to this am.  Rain was done, headed out the door at 7:15 to meet up with my awesome running partner Carrie.

Our plan was to run 9 miles today.  The trails we run on are only 3 miles long so 3 loops. The trail starts at the top of a hill and works its way down along a river/creekbed then climbs back up, no way to escape the hills.   We set off at a pretty decent clip, but the humidity was horrible, especially amongst the trees.  We decided to walk the hills today.  Lap one done, lap 2 we decided to go the opposite direction.  It totally seemed longer going the other way.  Both of us managed to slip on rocks and tweak our ankles, each time requiring a bit of a walkout before returning to run.  3 lap I was dying feeling pretty good considering all.  No doubt about it, if Carrie hadn't been there I would have quit for the day.  BUT I DID IT!  9 MILES!  I haven't run that long since 2001 when I trained for the Marine Corps Marathon.

It's nice to do loops since we saw the same runners/walkers again and again.  One guy, I'll call him Eric Northman (Any TrueBlood fans?), totally looked like him had passed us numerous times, and I heard him tell someone he'd done 20 miles.  I can imagine doing 20 on those trails but it's beautiful. 

Came home to an empty house, DH had taken the boys hiking and made coffee! I love my DH! 

My weekly milage: 30  First time ever I've run so much in a week!  This coming week training will be harder to do, we have visitors for the week and soccer practices in the evening.  I'm going to have to figure something out!