Running with Bob

Bob kicked my ass today. 

Last night I got home at midnight from our vacation in Holden Beach, North Carolina.  I drove fifteen hours, two of them in a traffic jam FOR NO APPARENT REASON.  I needed a run this morning, but I didn't get my act together until about noon.  That is when I met Bob. 

I had decided to run six miles on the Sand Run path as my "long run" for several reasons: 1) It is close to home,  2)It is shady (and it is HOT today), and 3) I thought the hills would make up for my lack of distance.  I am still tired and discombobulated from the drive, so I knew that I had to take care of myself.  I chose to drive to my starting point at the opposite end of the path because this gives me a largely downhill run on the second half.  I also told myself that I should take it easy on pace, maybe doing an eleven minute mile.  That didn't happen.

Around mile two I noticed that I was doing under a ten minute mile, and I thought I had been running more slowly.  I started to pass a gentleman ahead of me who was easily running (no gasping or sweating, unlike me), and I thought, "I should really run at his pace," but I didn't.  When I got to the three mile marker, I stopped to drink water, and the gentleman came in a few minutes later.  He introduced himself (Bob), and asked if he could run at my pace on the way back.  Damn.  I thought I was going to slow down, but I knew that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run with someone who seemed to be running so effortlessly, so we took off.

Want to know what happened?  Want to read about running in North Carolina?  Click here to read the rest of the post, including some sweet pics of the beach where I ran.

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