Forgetting

I find it really interesting that it's taken all this time during marathon training for two things to happen:
1.  To go for a run with Drew
2.  To realize that running is hard

Those two things may or may not be related.  And to be totally fair, the last time I did run with Drew was in August and technically I was marathon training, but those were the early days!  I'm actually not even sure I was officially signed up the last time we went running together.

So, the two of us went for a 4 mile run last night, which was Drew's idea.  I have a good 3-mile loop in the Park, plus running back and forth from our apartment makes it right around 4 miles.  Drew works out a lot, but he doesn't actually run all that often from what I understand (I don't actually know.  To be honest, I don't love the gym, as you may have gathered, and that is where he likes to do the vast majority of his working out). 

We started out running from our apartment to the Park and then off on my little route.  There were a couple times where Drew asked if he was running too fast for me, but I felt like we were going along at a pretty decent pace.  I must have sighed one times too many because he kept asking if I was okay, which I really appreciated, but also sort-of made me feel like I was a bad runner.  I have to tell you, this is not a feeling that you really want to have leading up to a marathon. 

However, it really seemed like the tides turned when we were getting closer to finishing the Park portion of our run. I could tell that Drew was definitely getting tired (and maybe tired isn't the right word, but just tired of running).  The funny thing to me was that I was just starting to feel warmed up and like I could actually pick up the pace by a good bit and he was slowing down.  Then, of course, I started asking him if he was okay.  I realize now that it might have made him feel like a bad runner.  Oops.

It's taken me all this time to realize that running is hard work.  I don't consider myself a runner.  I don't even really consider myself particularly good at running (there will be an upcoming post on these things).  It just really made me take a step back and realize that running even one mile is a lot.  Running four miles is really a lot.  Especially when you don't do it that often.

I am really glad that Drew suggested running last night.  I had a great time.  I mostly wanted to go running because I got a new tank for running that I'm going to use in Philly (stay tuned) and I wanted to test it out prior to the race.  I'm glad to say that it works amazingly well and I fully plan on wearing it.  The weather was 52 when we were running last night and I wore shorts, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt and the new tank and was just about perfect.  I didn't even wear a watch, because at this point there isn't anything I can do to help my marathon training.  All those miles are in the bag.  Now I'm just running to keep myself from going crazy waiting for race day!

Running
Distance: 4.20 miles