Reunions

Friday night I had the honor of attending a 10 year high school reunion for a class I attended grades 7-9 with. I'm pleased to report that I was immediately carded for my beer. (Hoorah, anything to counteract the Am-I-Really-this-Old? feeling.) I'm also pleased to report that it was fun and I'm glad I went. Those Jr. High years have such an influence on who you end up being as an adult and at the same time, the person you were then, is only a snapshot of the entire person you will become. One of the highlights was sharing with a good friend about my marathon last year. I think I've mentioned it before, but I did not exactly hold up a repuation as a stellar athlete during my teen years. In fact, I ran track in 7th and 8th grade and came in dead last every single time in my event (the 400.) But you know what? It never stopped me. Nope. Never. Meet after meet, I always came back for more. And so, I think that part of me still holds up today.

On Saturday, my cousin and I drove my grandma to Ozark, Missouri to see my uncle who has been sick. 3 hours each way made for a long day. But the benefits of seeing family and spending time with my grandma exceeded the burden of the long drive. Unfortunately, I also had to return home to a very warm house because our A.C. went out. The part won't be ready until Monday, so we are roughing it, so to speak. It's not that bad. Ok, it's bad. But it could be worse. It could have been last week.

And this morning, I had a reunion of another sort. As part of my 14 mile run, I included one of the hills from my marathon. In fact, I believe it's actually the biggest hill. For those in K.C. it's the hill that takes you from Ward Parkway and the Plaza, up Summit Road to Loose Park. I remember this hill particularly from last year. There was a lady from Alaska who I met on this hill and at the top of the hill, my friend Laura was waiting for me. Well today, there were no other runners or friends to cheer me on. So pretty much it was just me and monster climb. And I'm pleased to report that the hill and I became pretty good friends, all considering. It was the last 5 miles that really pained me for some reason today. I was struggling and walking a lot. Don't know what the deal was, but I hope this pattern doesn't continue because me and my marathon hills aren't done training yet. I plan to keep incorporating much of the course into my training.

Total Time: 2:59:30
Average 12:49/ miles which tells me there was way too much walking going on.