Sunday, November 16, 2008

Attempts at running

Joe decided a few months ago that it would be a good idea to run the Disney World Marathon in January. I've always wanted to be able to say that I had run a marathon, and in a weak moment, signed up for the race.

Oh, how I regret that decision right now!

Sundays are supposed to be "long run" days. My training plan says that today I should have run 12 miles. Now, I did complete a half marathon (13.1 miles) last month, but my lower half has not been the same since. I can run, but not for long distances. The weather today was quite nice, so I sucked it up, grabbed the dogs and set out my long run. I figured I would go for 10 miles, then see if I could squeeze out another two. Joe and Kyle had just gotten back from a 16.5 mile run, so certainly I could manage, right?

Wrong. The dogs were so excited to run a new route that they acted like crazed idiots for the first few miles. It got to the point where I was constantly pulling or being pulled, and decided that I wasn't going to continue like that for another 8 miles. I called Joe, who came and took the energetic girls home.

I set off, by myself, through the streets of Mission Hills, this incredible city just south of Roeland Park. If I had to guess, the cheapest house in the city/neighborhood is probably worth 1.5 million and would only have 4 or 5 bedrooms. Talk about stately mansions! I had never wandered by foot through the area, and was simply astounded by the sheer size beauty of some of the homes! Well, that only lasted for another couple of miles, before my knees, hips, feet, etc really started to hurt. I managed, in the end, to push on and complete 8 miles. Hmmm. 8-13 miles is the furthest I've ever run, and yet I'm supposed to go for 26 in another 2 months? We'll see about that... I may have really overestimated my own athletic abilities this time!

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