Time Flies

I have run lots and lots of long runs by now, but it still amazes me how fast the time can go.  I don't know if fast is even the right word.  It just is gone.  I planned on being out there four hours.  I wasn't sure what mileage that would get me; it includes stops back at the car, running slowly on the wet stuff (that fall last week has me a little overcautious), and ,well, everything once I hit start.

Erin was in her car in the parking lot when I arrived.  Blaine and Nate A. had already set out.  They had 15 minutes on me and were coming back to the lot to meet up with the 8:00 crew so I probably wouldn't see them.  Erin had run long yesterday so was waiting a bit to start out on her miles.  Almost on autopilot, I headed out on Mindy's loop.  Everything was wet and there were loads of puddles, but still not as bad as last weekend.  Somewhere on Ginn East, I met Alan, Ian, Blaine, Nate, Erik and Django running the other direction.  Someone yelled hop on, but I decided to stick with my plan and my pace.  Coming off the Bat Cave loop I met Erik again.  He and Django were cutting it short so I had their company till the Snowmobile Trail.

I felt pretty good after the first eight.  Ian, Alan, Blaine and Nate were hanging out in the lot when I came back in.  I refilled my supplies and chatted a bit.  Blaine was also running long so we joined up for the rest of the time.  Since I was going to meet Mindy at 10, we did a short loop on the mountain side.  Mindy and I always seem to time it right; she was pulling into the lot just after we ran in.  I realized I'd only had one GU and a couple of Newton Crisps so nibbled a few more cookies and packed another GU (which I forgot to eat).  Mindy was trying out the LLL, so I thought of a route that would give us around 4 miles.  The east side of the mountain was whole again.  We pulled in with a little over 4.6 covered.  Blaine and I went out to do a loop of Knight's Woods to give Mindy a chance to assess the LLL to decide whether or not to add a little more.  When we ran in, we all evaluated our runs - did we need more miles, time, were the parts ok?  Yup to all.  We just added a short piece to the start of the Boundary trail and back.  I had 4:02:48 with 18.4 miles.  My feet were sore, but, other than that I felt good.

We all went to E&L's to relax and enjoy the yummy, replenishing food.  The artwork was new.  Some were slightly creepy, but I liked them all and wouldn't mind having one or two of the pieces.