A new running partner and a very tough run

Still updating from my little hiatus:

The Saturday after our last TNAM meetup, I met my new friend Jane for a morning run.  She lives right in my neighborhood and we've been in both Catch the Wave and Heat Wave groups together.  We hit the Trail with a plan of running 6-minute intervals, walking 1-2 minutes, and running another 6.  We jog/ walked about 4 miles that morning, but I was chattering away like a silly girl half the time, and we ended up walking quite a bit more than planned.  It was great to have a chance to get to know each other better.  I really enjoyed having a one-on-one partner to run with - quite a change from my normal solo runs.  It's funny, even with the groups, because I bring the dog with me, I'm often running a bit behind or ahead of others to make sure Coty stays out of the way of the other runners.  It was a great run, and I'm looking forward to doing it again some time soon.  

Free image courtest of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Monday following, we met again for our weekly Heat Wave group.  I know I've mentioned the radical heat wave we've actually been experiencing here, and this day was pretty extreme.  The high had been 103. At 5:30pm, I parked the car at the park where we meet up, and just before I got out, the radio announcer said the current temp was 98.  He was about to advise the Heat Index (how hot it "feels") but I decided I just really didn't want to know!!  I wanted to get out there with my girls and get going before I changed my mind!

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I had a really tough run that night.  Even Coty seemed to be struggling a little (not running ahead much, keeping pretty close, etc.) but MAN, I was really BEAT!  I did have a water bottle with me, but couldn't keep up with the planned intervals (just a 4-5 minute interval).  Looking back, I realized I hadn't had enough water during the day at work, and had maybe not eaten enough at lunch either.  The heat was really brutal and I was struggling, big time.  Jane stayed back with me for about half the time, but I could tell I was slowing her down and told her to feel free to go on ahead.  The group leader caught up with me at the turn-around point and stuck with me till we got back to the park.  That was seriously one of the toughest runs of my life... and it was only 2 miles!!  Took me about a 1/2 hour to do that much.  Really, REALLY tough night.  

I learned my lesson, though, from that night's bad run.  Wednesday would be July 4, and I was registered for the Park 2 Park 5-mile race here in town, and the temperatures were NOT going to let up before the race.  I spent all day at work Tuesday drinking water, water, and MORE WATER!  Tuesday night, since we both had the next few days off of work, Jason and I headed to our favorite local bar for dinner.  I had two beers and 3 gigantic glasses of ice water, and a cheeseburger.  Headed home to bed early and set the alarm for 5:45am.  Jane was picking me up to drive to the race together.

 More on that tomorrow, with a P2P race recap, and my official time for my 3rd try at this unpredictable race.