Wet One

Training for a marathon, obviously, eats up serious time. I woke up at 4:45, left the house at 5:40 and returned at 10:20. The run went well. I had planned to run 19, but settled on 16 for reasons to be described.

Our crew of 11 started at River Park in Brentwood, just south of Nashville. It's basically a mish-mash of greenway and sidewalks through nice neighborhoods. Conditions weren't optimal for a long run ... very humid and dewpoint in the low 70 range ... but we did have cloud cover (and a good chance of rain).

We lost our teammate Jim, who was having calf trouble, at Mile One. We saw deer in the dawn, the first of three sightings. At Mile Four, I was soaked. At Mile Six, my shoes were soggy from the sweat. At Mile Seven, the hills started. At Mile 11, the skies opened. It rained hard most of the last five miles. Funny, you don't notice it as much when you're already drenched.

Our pace was very conservative the first half ... averaging 11:35/mile. We mostly stuck together today, with few groups branching. Around Mile Nine, Sara picked it up, and Eddie and I followed. Kristen and Joelle stayed close. When the deluge began, Eddie wondered how many folks in passing cars thought we were crazy. "All of them," everyone said in unison.

At Mile 13, some decided to head back, while Eddie, Joelle and I decided to turn right to add miles. I wasn't interested in a 14-miler, nor was Eddie. The rains pounded, while the water ponded. Good-natured Eddie just laughed. I just ran. I decided to finish with Eddie, who was set on 16, rather than run 19. My feet were starting to feel like blistering was possible, and I reasoned 16 in soup is like 19 or 20 in drier conditions.

Final pace was 11:15/mile. I'm happy with it and the weekly mileage - 35.5. The group has 22 on their schedule next Saturday. Should be challenging.