The New Table

So Ana's out with an ACL that's torn.  Which ROTS.  And, she's moving away from my backyard soon, which also rots, although it's still *kind of* down the road from me.  About 4 miles and change down the road and in another town, but still close.

Last week I thought I'd test out running by myself and head in the direction of her new place to see if I could make it close so I could say she was still officially "on my running route."

I don't know WHAT got into me, but I was FLYING last Saturday.  I mean, freaking FLYING.  I swear I didn't try to go too fast--but after a little bit I will admit that I was hoping to keep the pace where it was.  I ended up running 9.63 miles with an average pace of 8:28/mile.  It was pretty awesome, and I'm pretty sure I passed her new street although I am not exactly sure which house is hers.

So, see?  Still on my running route.  Sort of.

Anyway, I've been forced to branch out a bit and try to find another group to run with here, because running alone is just not fun all the time.  Sometimes, yes.  Every single run? No.  So I tentatively reached out to a few girls that I know run sort of near me.  Anne, one of the crew, emailed me back and said that of course they'd love to have me, that they meet just down the road from me, and that they are now running 8-10 miles at about a 9:00/mile pace.  Which, I dare say, is PERFECT.  So this weekend was a little nuts and I couldn't make it, but I'm hoping to make it next Saturday.

I feel a little bit like a new kid sitting at a different lunch table.  I hope they like me and are okay with my bizarre sense of humor, massive amounts of snot from allergies, and nerd-like tendencies.

In other news, Thursday was completely nuts at school as we had a bomb threat called in and had to evacuate and walk to a school almost a half a mile away.  Luckily, it was all a hoax and the kid that did it was caught and admitted to--wait for it--MAKING THE CALL FROM THE BATHROOM.  Not the smartest thing to do, for sure.  Tensions were definitely high with what happened in Chardon last Monday and it was a little nerve-wracking even though we got the all-clear by noon.  The fact that we have to think about these things is sad and frustrating and annoying and a bit scary, but this is our world now, so I guess I'd better deal with it.

I'm definitely looking forward to some good running weather this week and hopefully hitting the pool a bit, too--Bug's swim lessons have gone INFINITELY better since the humongous meltdown of a few week's past and he has been a little pool rockstar lately.  So proud of him.  :)

Happy weekend and happy training!