Summer is here, and 140 days until Columbus!

MIT, from Fleet Feet's Facebook page. 

I'm back! Did my first summer/fall training run with MIT this morning and it felt so great to be out there pounding the pavement in the sunshine with the 10:30s.

Who are huge this season, by the way! There are so many of us, it's fantastic! 

And the "long run"... a whopping 6 miles! Remember when I said this? Splits today were: 10:31, 10:14, 10:01, 10:10, 10:26, 9:57. 

Yea, yea, yea, I guess I remember saying this too :)

It's all relative. 

My alarm was buzzing at 6 a.m. and I was up and ready. I made a bagel and burned a CD for the ride since the iPod is still MIA. Getting ready to run in the summer is so much easier -- shorts, tech shirt, garmin, hydration, good to go! (continued)

I get in the car and am wide awake, no caffeine needed here, I'm so excited! I've got my music cranked up to all my favorite marathon songs, Waka Waka, Rosalita, Waiting for the End (just a voice like a riot rocking every revision...), playing the steering wheel drumset. For once I don't have to speed, I'm a half hour early. Which is good, I needed to stretch. 

The first person I run into is Heather, who somehow knew my marathon time off the top of her head. It was so good to see everybody, and lots of new faces too. I'm so excited that there are so many people running Columbus! 

I was worried about running six. I know that sounds crazy after running 26.2, but except for a very slow 1 mile on the treadmill I haven't run at all since my race. I've spun twice, and I went swimming twice. 

Jeff called us, we took off.

And.

My.

Legs.

REVOLTED!

My body was not pleased with me those first two miles. It was telling me: "Wait, I thought we were done with this nonsense! We're not doing this. Absolutely not." It felt like everything was out of place, not natural, my knees were achy, lots of random cramps and pains. But my muscles slowly settled in. By the turnaround at mile 3 I'm feeling better and by Mile 4 I'm feeling great, my muscles seemed to be accepting the abuse. The last 3 were really pleasant, I ran most of the way with Kim. B., conversation always makes the run better. We got back to the school at 5.6 and circled the field to make up the difference. Coach Randy was going out for two more, I considered it, I was feeling really good at this point, but I know better. 

The good folks at Fleet Feet had cookies and hydration out for us and it was really nice to sit out in the sun and stretch. I got caught up with Sara W., whose experience at the Pittsburgh Marathon had me holding back tears when I was reading her blog! Sara was training for her first marathon and her mom was training for her first quarter marathon this spring. Weeks before the Cap City quarter, Sara's mom passed. Sara was torn, didn't know how she was going to finish her race without her mom's support, but persevered. She was ready to quit at the start line, and then, well read her blog for the rest :) She's an inspiration if I've ever seen one before!

Most of the good ones are still growing, but this is a start!

I'm developing a real affinity for Worthington. I went to the Worthington Farmer's Market -- one of my favorite things about summer -- and it was a really nice morning to walk around. There weren't a lot of fresh veggies in season yet, I did get some asparagus, strawberries, turnips and tomatoes. And there was a stand with delicious breakfast burritos made with all natural, organic ingredients. With that I found my new favorite post run food -- sorry, Whole Foods pizza! I'm still thinking about joining a farm CSA for the summer and I got a couple brochures. 

I ran a few other errands, and by noon everything I needed to do out of the apartment was done. Commence being lazy for the day, cleaning can wait til later! 

Song of the day... because I love it... madman drummers bummers and indians in the summer...

(sorry this was the best I could find on YouTube)