Usually I do my long runs on Sunday mornings, but with Dan away, and not being able to make it to grandma's early enough to run before Sunday dinner, my options became a 16 km treadmill run or wait until the girls are in preschool and run outside - I chose to wait!
When I initially looked at the training schedule for running the half - to my surprise - I found out you don't actually need to run very far on a daily basis. Really, just one day a week must be committed to a long run, which you build up to gradually; the other three or four runs are 'shorter', generally faster-paced runs (3-8 km).
After the girls and I slept in, we ate a quick breakfast, got everyone dressed, and I bundled them both up in our double stroller and power-walked to preschool as my warm-up. As I kissed my babes goodbye, I ran out the door and didn't look back. While the girls were learning about the gingerbread man, I was running my heart out.
Running such a far distance during preschool hours was a bit of a bold move on my part. It didn't leave much space, time-wise, for error. Since we were a few minutes late, it was 9:20am by the time I left the Preschool, which left me with about 2 hours to finish my run and get back in time to pick up the girls for 11:30 am. I usually run one massive 11 km loop, and then add in an extra loop at the end to make up the extra kilometres. Today as I headed into that extra loop, I hoped I would make it on time! I wasn't 100% sure if I had chosen a 16 km loop, or accidentally gone on the 18km stretch, but I didn't have time to worry about it. You also never know how you're going to feel or what can go wrong on a given run. One time, a few years ago, I sprained my ankle during a run (with the help of my pulling dogs). I happened to be close to home, but I'll never forget that experience and pain of hobbling home. I remember shedding a few tears, not because of the physical pain, but because I had a newborn to care for at home, who needed rocking on two feet when all I could use was one. Lesson learned: never run with two dogs who misbehave in the presence of other dogs, and don't push your body in the first year after having a baby!
As today's run continued, I was hopeful that I had only 5 km to go, though a seemingly endless road stretched ahead of me. I kept up my time, and thankfully the route was only 16 km. In the end I had a great run, making it back to the preschool with time to spare.
As a weird coincidence, there was a new child in Elyse's group today, and as I got chatting with her mom, I found out she is running a half-marathon on October 26th in Niagara. There's a whole world of runners out there.
I want to thank my friend Karina who inspired me to run in the first place, and who has kept up her training through injury and all; and thank you to our training partner Mel for struggling through these long runs with me - looking forward to race day!
Oh, and Ariel made this today for her daddy:
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