On Thursday’s I met up with a group of like minded crazy people in the parking lot of a Starbucks and we all go run 4 miles; at 5:30 am; in the dark. Which means at 5 am my alarm goes off and I have to will myself out of a nice, warm, cozy bed. Put on my night running gear, make the actually short trip to the Starbucks, and the NOT GET COFFEE! Which just seem ludicrous to me. I may have a small coffee problem. I only drink 10-14 cups a day. That’s just one pot because two pots would be ridiculous.
But I digress….
So, this Thursday I barely got there in time. I missed the group photo that is taken every week. (I think its just so that they can prove they did it) I snuck in behind them just as they were taking off. That did startle a couple of them which amused me. I fell in with a couple of ladies who where talking about everything under the sun (which still wasn’t up yet). I let their conversation distract me as I ran and listened to Britney, Clapton, DMB, Zeppelin and Trombone Shorty. Eventually I joined in and admitted that I haven’t been through a Phoenix summer yet. Which got the standard “just wait, your going to die out here” to which I told them I’ve been through several Georgia summers that where 120+ degrees F (~50 C) PLUS 85%-90% humidity. I think I’ll be ok.
Around the end of the run one of them thought we should kick to the finish so the people who where faster and waiting on us would think that we were running really hard. So I sprinted to the finish. For some reason, no matter how far the run, how fast my pace is, or how tired I am I have always been able to sprint at near 100 m dash speed at the end. In high school cross country the kick even had a scream associated with it and I dropped it down into the sprint for your life gear. I have managed to stifle the scream but I can still kick like none other.
I knew that we kept a brisk pace and that they where pushing me. I was a little surprised I had enough reserve left to sprint as much as I did. for those who have read the post about Tuesday I thought that was my speed day keeping a 9:29 min mile average over 2 miles. Once I looked at my watch I did a double take. I just did 9:19 min mile average over 4 miles. This tells me two things. Thing number one, running with people can push me alot more than I thought. Thing number two, I need to rethink how fast I should be going.
The run was over, I was feeling pretty good and ready for my Starbuck reward. Then we walked to Dunkin Donuts. I’m still a little confused by this but they have coffee so I was happy.
I also want to give a shout out to my 2 followers: thedancingrunner who has a blog you should go check out and my fiance Vicky. Which I didn’t tell I was doing this. She is the main reason that I have been managing to get up and go running at ungodly hours. She is also super supportive of my running goals.
Hopefully, I can get a couple of runs in this weekend. Until then C-ya!
Running with Neal 