16 tough miles

So I guess it's fair to say we all have off days. Unfortunately for me, that day was yesterday. My 16 mile run was very difficult.

A few of us decided not to run with our Galloway group because the location was over 45 minutes away. Instead, we mapped out a route at the beach. Val, Hillary, Tracy, Sonya and I met at 6am and began our 3 hour 40 minute journey ... over the Atlantic Blvd. bridge (twice) and through the rain. To make the run fun, everyone was given a "role" ... assigned of course by me. I played the role of mascot/jester, Hillary was our guest speaker (topic of the day: interesting running health/fitness facts), Val was our inspiration, Sonya kept the perps away and Tracey was our cheerleader. But despite my role, which could have been a ton of fun, I turned into the resident old man ... I couldn't stop talking about my aches and pains. From the get-go, my body didn't feel right. At mile 3 my feet were already hurting and by mile 9, I had terrible pain in my left shin - which only got worse with every step. Needless to say, I was thrilled when the run was behind us! No worries though, I'm feeling better today and will run again on Tuesday. Hopefully the old man syndrome will be gone ... otherwise my friends may just kick me out of the group!

Look for some exciting updates in mid-November when I get back from Italy. I will be sure to include pictures from the trip, delicious recipes and also tell you what it was like running there ... which I'm sure will be amazing. Until then, ciao!