Lori is very consistent with her weekly run schedule and has a pretty big group training for the Des Moines Marathon right now. The group starts at insanely early times which doesn't always work with my love staying in my bed on a weekend morning!
This week she got to me and got me to agree to run at 5:30 AM. The marathon group was heading out for 20 miles which was much more than what I needed to do. I joined up with the group and quickly noticed that I am not a chipper morning runner like the rest of the group. They are definitely more used to getting up that early with lots of banter as we waited to get started!
It was still dark out and luckily I remembered to bring my Knucklelights to use. Side note: a few weeks ago I woke up one day and noticed light coming out of my guest room. I went in there and discovered my headlamp was on which I had not turned on. It wouldn't turn off though so I opened the casing and popped the batteries out. A few days later it became obvious that the battery had exploded and my headlamp was officially busted.
Back to the run...we headed out in the dark and I just trucked along behind the marathon group for most of the first 2 miles before I decided to part ways. Their group was heading on some areas of the local trail system that I didn't want to be on by myself in the dark. I prefer being in areas that I'm more familiar with.
I took my first water break at mile 2 after reaching the top of a hill, it was quite the reward! My next water stop was at mile 4 and I decided to have a couple Honey Stinger gel chews. As I was paused, I noticed a shiny rock on the ground in the light from my Knucklelight. I shined the light on it and realized with horror that I had dropped a chew. Oh, no HoneyStinger down!
As I neared mile 6, I started to realize that the light I was seeing was coming from the sky and not my light. Yep, my brain was working really well that morning! I paused at the 6 mile point to hook the Knucklelight onto my Fuel Belt. I think it would work for hands free running that way so I might have to try that out next time.
I made my way back to the square and finished the run with just over 8 miles. I noticed that one of the 21c Art Hotel pink snails was still on display by the construction office so I decided to take a quick picture with it.
The temps that day were humid so I was covered in a lot of sweat and had to use my Arkansas Masters swimming towel to cover my car seats.
Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a $150 gift certificate to Country Outfitter!
Love the snail! I had my picture taken by a turtle-shaped sign that read, "Slow- turtle crossing." It seemed appropriate since I'm not exactly a speed demon! Great job getting up and running. I can be a morning person on race day, but nay other day, I'd rather stay in bed until the sun's up.
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