Hello friends – I wanted to stop by and share some recent running specific adventures.
First up is the 3rd Annual Memorial 5k for my friend Paul, held last week at the W&L High School track in Arlington, where we all met twice a week for our track practice group for many years.
I no longer participate in the group (I went consistently for about 4 or 5 years, but when Riese was born I never went back in full force, and now that we live downstairs in Del Ray instead of right on the race track, it’s just too complicated logistically, but I miss it)!
Paul and I met in the Track Workout Group in 2013 and quickly became good running buddies, training for many marathons together with our other track friends (here on a cold and snowy run in January 2017 with our friend Diane).
He was the perfect running buddy because he had a seemingly endless supply of funny stories to tell. One of my favorite runs with him was this 20 mile run on a random Monday in 2016; He offered to keep me company for 14 of those miles because I was sad I was going over the weekend and missed our large group in the long run!
Here’s another one of my favorite long runs we’ve done together that’s summarized on the blog – there’s a funny pic of him wringing his socks out during the run.
Paul passed away very sadly in November 2020. The first Memorial 5k was held a few weeks later and track veterans who knew Paul but were no longer actively participating were also invited to participate.
I missed 5,000 last year due to a lack of childcare logistics, so I was dying to make sure I could make it this year!
It was really nice to see some old track friends and my coach and all remember our friend Paul together. Mother Nature cooperated well with a beautiful sunrise for us that grew more and more epic as we ran (sunrise photos courtesy of Diane’s husband, who supported but didn’t run there).
In honor of Paul, who was always hot on my heels (or my bunny in front of me) on the course for motivation, I wanted to run at a “now fast for me” pace.
I’ve been doing most of my runs lately between 9:30 and 10 mile paces, so I decided that aiming for anything below a 9-minute mile average pace would be a good challenge, and I did it.
It felt tough but not insane and having the others and my old trainer yelling out my splits as I passed him helped keep me motivated!
We miss you Paul. <3
At the weekend I met my friend Kathleen to go jogging. I’ve walked up her path the last few times we met up for a run, so this time she got close to me and we met up on Daingerfield Island to run the Mt Vernon Trail along the Potomac River.
It was cool and windy outside but felt good as we moved. I was feeling quite sluggish and tired – probably due to my faster 5K two days earlier – but the conversation helped me to keep going.
This was definitely a run that I probably would have walked the whole distance if I was alone, so I was really happy to have company!
4 miles, check!
We’re running a 10K together this weekend (along with my friend Katie) which is going to be fun! I’ll be sharing a recap next week, along with some holiday recipe inspiration.
Have a nice weekend friends and see you back here soon!