Not Quite as Expected

Two weeks after the painful Cleveland Marathon; one week after the tedious Medina Half Marathon, you'd think I'd be ready for a break. But I did want to get a long run in. Long in today's case is defined as 20 or so miles. Any more than that would be icing on the cake.

Friends from work would be running on the Towpath as they often do on Saturdays. I decided to meet them, but to get some miles in early to ensure longness.

I'm awake at 3:30 and in the car at 4:20. I begin my run at Station Road Bridge at 4:55. The others (Joe Vasil, Mike George, and Scott George who's no relation) are coming at 7:00. I plan to circle back.

This provides two hours of tremendous towpath training trotting. In the old days, I could run from Station Road to Peninsula and back - fourteen miles - in two hours' time. Yes, I know. That was then, and this is now. I'll just do what I can. What I can and what I want are more and more frequently two different things these days.

I only manage twelve miles. That's pretty poor, but it doesn't bother me too very much. I did enjoy this return to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It had been a while. Too long, in fact. And as it began to get lighter, I did manage to pick up the pace. A little.

Scott, Mike, and Joe had planned on fourteen miles as well. My original plan was not to go that far with them; just enough to make it to twenty-ish. We get moving at an easy pace.

But lookyahere. After some nice conversation and other distractions, I find myself in Peninsula with them. Now all I had to do was run back.

This part is a little tougher. We become splintered a little, and I run mostly with Mike. It's good to catch up on even more stuff. Before I know it, we're back in Brecksville. I ran 26 miles.

That actually exceeded my expectations. And that's pretty rare these days.