Real Runner's Shoes Don't Stay White

(by SoloRunner)

Saturday started out as any typical morning with the exception of the weather. The threat of snow, I just did not want to get out of bed. I had plans to check in with my running partner at 8:00 a.m. and we would make the decision when to run. We finally met up at about 11:00 a.m. or so. We were slated to run 11 miles but she was convinced that it was not enough and we needed to do 15 miles. I was feeling good so I say to myself, “Why not?” I got all my weekly runs in so I agreed on one condition, we run up the Wild Wood trail—one of my favorites.

The first mile or so is a bad ass hill that gets me every time. I have had my challenges with and it has taken me down a time or two, but I keep coming back. My friend said she was game. I told her that it was going to be muddy. She asked how muddy, because she did not want to get her shoes dirty. With thoughts of—are you freaking kidding me about to fly out of my mouth—I just said let’s go. We started up the hill dodging the mud that if you stuck your foot in it, you could lose your shoe, it was great! As we made our way up, I took a glance back and my friend was not keeping up. She was dodging every ounce of mud she could. I waited at the next turn and when she finally caught up with me, I said with a big grin, “So, isn’t this great?!” Her reply was, “I am not really enjoying myself and I don’t think we will be on speaking terms after this.” I said, “Oh, you’ll get over it.” I took off and back to the hill. A little further down the road, I checked in again. I told her that we could turn back, and she seems to be a little happier with what I said. But, true friend she is, she sucked it up and said no. As we approached another turn the mud was so bad that I ran as close to the edge as I could. That was a big mistake because the next thing I knew, I was down. Dang that pot hole! I stopped and fell to my knees and hit the ground, and I feel pain. I thought, “Ok, just give me a minute and let me see how it really feels.” My friend asked what I wanted to do. I said, “Let me walk and see what happens.” The first few steps hurt, but after I checked that there is no swelling, I walked a bit more and worked up to a light jog. The pain was not that bad so I said let’s go. We contented our run with some pain, but like my brothers use to say, “If you’re going to play with the big boy, no cry babies!” I know crazy or stupid same difference. As we made our way to clearing a dog owner, her three misbehaved dogs approached us. One with full force almost knocking my friend down, I yelled to the woman to get her dog under control and her reply was, “Which one?” Are you freaking kidding me? Some people should not own a dog, let alone three. We decided to take a shortcut back down to the main trail. I had to walk down the steep hill that I would have loved to run down. When we arrived at the main trail, we followed it to the end of the line so when we came back to it that would complete 15 miles. It was still turning out to be a good run even with the pain. We also lucked out with very little snow/ice coming down on us. We started back down for another 7 miles and I could only hear my music and my thoughts that kept me focused. I am not a talker on my runs so it really helped that my friend did find the need to speak. In spite of it all, I really did have a good run. I DO think my friend really enjoyed herself even if she got her white shoes all muddy (now, she is a real runner!).

I went home and had to wrap and ice, and headed to acupuncture on Monday. Hope to be back on the road Tuesday. Thanks for reading.

Now go out and RUN!
SoloRunner