We now have to park for our Lester Rail Trail runs at the corner of Fenn and Route 57. It seems that certain members of our clan were busted for parking at the York Township Municipality Lot too early in the morning. So I announced that today's run would begin and end at the new location with loops at 5, 6, and 7 AM. Those times are kind of typical for me and for me and for everyone else.
The final 6 miles are often, although not always, pretty lonely for me. Most of my friends, it seems, work for a living and these runs are often on weekdays (today's run was on a Friday). They usually need to be done and on their way home by 7 or earlier. That loneliness often, but not always, translates to a poor finish to my long run.
Today was slightly different. Although I'd planned to be there for each start time, and although I did want to get 18 miles in, I decided to begin super-duper early (4:15) with Michelle and Andy Wolff, and thus have only about 2 miles left when everyone else finished at 7:00 AM. Surely, 2 miles alone wouldn't be so bad.
Things didn't go quite as planned. Other friends (Shannon Barnes, Chadwick and Ella Sunday, and Julie Boggs) showed up at 5 as planned. As we began talking, I learned that Julie had been planning on doing all three loops - the ones I had promised to be there for. Now, I couldn't let Julie run those last miles alone, so even though I had nearly 4 in to begin with, I agreed to accompany her for the 7 AM loop in its entirety. This would put me at close to 22 miles, which is 10-20 percent longer than my usual long runs. But if I say there will be a 7AM loop, dad-burn it if there won't.
Those final miles were indeed slower for me, but the good news is that they got done. Or, as I used to say as a Project Manager, they were 'done, done.'
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