Inner Fortitude

Although I'm enjoying my running time, I don't think I'd be able to train for this 1/2 marathon in December on my own. I feel immense gratitude toward my two running partners for keeping me going. Knowing someone will be waiting outside my door at 5:30 AM, expecting me to be ready to run, is a great motivator.

But my running buddies are off to the beach next week, so it's all on me.  I cannot slam the alarm off and roll over and go back to sleep, no matter how much I want to. I need to keep the momentum going.

We're running 45 minutes to an hour 3-4x/week.  We're slow, probably averaging just over a 10-minute mile, but hey, we're doing it. I have immense respect for my neighbor who is 20 years older than me and keeping pace. Her husband (our fearless leader) is almost 60 but he's been running most of his life. M. is new to it and I think she does a phenomenal job.

I'm off this weekend to visit my best friend in Cincinnati. We met when we were sophomores in college and have been pretty much bonded at the hip ever since. We alternate visiting one another and this year is my turn. I've packed running gear, including I-Pod and stopwatch, and hold out great hope of running at least once if not twice over the weekend.  Trisha is the one who started me running in college. Unfortunately, she's almost blown out both her knees and isn't supposed to run anymore. Not that that stops her, but she's not supposed to.

I expect to sit down at Trisha's computer and do a bit of blogging over the weekend, but in case I don't, everyone have a fun and safe weekend.