Familiar Faces.... Gobble Gobble!

A week ago last Thursday I decided it was time to go for my second 20 miler of the year. Usually I wait until the weekends to do long runs like that but sometimes if I know the weather is going to be crappy, I'll try to pick the best day of the week to do it. Last Thursday was the day. I awoke out of bed to a brisk, mostly sunny day with very little wind. Pretty much ideal for doing a long run. Was even able to wear shorts which is always a plus, especially for an end of March day. Even though the long runs aren't physically taxing on my body like they used to be, it still can be quite a challenge mentally somedays. Running outside for over 2.5 hours with no music and no company can be tough sometimes. The music thing is by choice. I never really cared for running with headphones in my ears, plus listening to music can sometimes be too much of a distraction on long runs. Granted, it can be a nice distraction for awhile, but sometimes it's better to keep your mind clear and be listening to how your body is feeling and NOT pushing your pace to the usual up-tempo music that accompanies most runners. If you speed up the pace on some long runs when your body is really telling you to slow down, you could be paying the price later. Plus, my feelings about running marathons is that it is mostly mental and that you not only need to train your body to be out there for 26 miles but your mind as well. If you can survive a 20 mile training run in the quiet of the morning with no music and just your thoughts to keep you company, you've already mastered a big part of running the gargantuan of a race. That's a big reason I don't train with music... I really believe it makes me mentally tougher without it. Besides, a lot of marathons these days don't allow you to wear headphones during the race. If you're training for your first marathon and using music to get you through those long distance days, what happens when you sign up for a marathon that doesn't allow you to wear headphones because of safety concerns? You are going to hate running 26 miles without having music as a distraction to get you through it. The race will probably feel like drudgery and you may feel like the lonliest person in the world... all because you don't have your tunes to pump you up and keep you going. A word of advice... don't train with music for a marathon. I'm serious in saying that it will make you mentally tougher.

It is nice to have a training partner, though. Yeah, the conversation is nice but to be honest, sometimes you don't end up talking a whole lot when your running. At least I don't when I'm running with someone. Sure, you usually talk a lot right out of the gate because your feeling fresh and your not tired. As the run progresses though, your body obviously is getting more and more tired and it becomes more of a chore to carry on lucid dialogue. The old adage is that if you can carry on a conversation while you're running, that is a good sign that you're in good shape. True, but I still think it's hard to carry on chit chat no matter how good of shape you might be in. Let's face it... talking while your running kind of screws up the rhythm of your breathing pattern which in turn makes it less comfortable when trying to get in a good run. Conversation in moderation is always the best thing in running. The main thing is that it's just nice knowing someone is running with you step for step, pacing you and encouraging you, even if that encouragement might be silent sometimes. It's a rarity though, that I ever get to train with anyone anymore. Last year I ran over 2,000 miles and most of those miles were by myself. It's kind of a bummer but what can you do? I try to put a positive spin on it and look at it in the light that it again helps me to be mentally tougher. No music, no company, 20 miles of running... you try doing it. Anyways, when I headed out the door a week ago Thursday to get in my second 20 miler of the year, it was again by myself, but this time I was able to see some familiar faces along the way. The first familiar faces, though, didn't talk exactly... they gobbled. Yes, believe it or not, they were wild turkeys in UW's arboretum. I know, I know... I'm really hard up for some company, huh? Sometimes you take what you can get. Seriously though, it seems that whenever I run through the arb, I always seem to see a flock of wild turkeys and it always makes me smile. I guess I just like seeing a little wild life like that in the middle of Madison. A few miles later I was up by Edgewood College heading towards the Vilas Zoo area when I happened to come upon a runner named Maggie who, like myself, also works at Movin' Shoes part-time. She was just out getting in a little 3 miler and I told her I was on mile 11 of twenty. For the next couple miles we ran through the Vilas area chatting up a storm and it was at that moment that I once again realized how nice it was to be able to run with someone again, albeit only for a couple of miles. It really helped to break up the monotony of that days long run. After we got down towards campus, she headed off to The Shell to finish off her workout and I headed up towards the Capitol to hopefully find someplace to get a drink of water. The water fountains still had yet to be turned on because of the chilly weather, so I was just about head into a Starbucks like I sometimes do to get a cup of water when I passed by M&I Bank on the square and thought I check in there to see if they had a bubbler. Thank heavens they did because I was parched after running 14 miles. As I took a couple of slow sips and took some carb gel to refuel myself I heard the familiar voice of "Hey Jamie." Lo and behold it was my former bank supervisor at M&I Christie Oruruo. Before I got back into the tv biz, I worked at drive up location for M&I in a suburb of Madison called Shorewood and Christie was my boss, so to speak. She was always a real nice person to deal with and always helpful whenever problems arose. While I took a little breather from my jaunt, it was nice to be able to catch up with her and see what was going on in each others lives. I told her that the next time I was out for a long run and needed a drink of water up by the Capitol, I'd stop by again and say hi. I finished up the last six miles without a problem and I have to say that it was one of the more enjoyable 20 milers I can remember. The little encounters that I had along the way really helped to break things up and make the run all the more fun. Yes, even seeing the turkeys in the arb even helped too.

Last Thursday's workout: 20.1 > 2:40:46 > 7:50 pace

Miles last week: 43.9