Weekend of Running

My weekend was very rewarding in a physical sense - full of amazing runs!

Saturday I met Iliana to do a long run in Central Park. We originally intended to run long with Tony, but icy roads everywhere kept us in the plowed Central Park. I felt quite good, and Iliana wanted to stop after a little over two loops, and taking it easy was probably smart, esp. since we had an overnight run planned. Running loops in Central Park was better than I expected; we had good conversation, Iliana is very patient with my ice fears, and I ran into three running friends in the Park.

I spent the rest of the day getting my hair cut, doing errands, walking around. Iliana picked me up at seven for our journey to Jersey. The original plan was to run 40 miles point-to-point on the Paulinskill 100 Miler course - which will be Iliana's first 100 miler. However, two feet of snow was going to make that difficult, so we opted to run on the South Mountain Reservation (where I ran last May's and will run this May's South Mountain 100k). 

Iliana, Rick (the RD for Paulinskill, Watchung, Muddy Marathon, and many other local races), Tom (also running Paulinskill), and I began running across the snowy trails up to the top of the mountain. It was fairly challenging (esp with the snow), and I found myself laughing hysterically as I repeatedly slipped.

There was a long straight path where you could run covered with snow that led to a paved loop. The snowy path was slippery and challenging, so we mostly stuck to the paved loop.

Iliana was doing her 10min run-1min walk, and Tom began on the snowy path (until he realized how crazy it was) and Rick and I ran around the paved path. It was a lot of fun; the temperatures were fairly warm, I was feeling quite good, like I could run all night. The moon was full so we didn't even use our headlamps.

After a little over two hours, I must've stepped in a puddle. But wait, my legs were really wet and there were no puddles - what? Suddenly, my back, my legs were soaked. The straw fell out of my Nathan bladder and I was suddenly soaked. "Augh!" I screamed, pulling off my backpack.

I quickly evaluated the situation; I was totally and completely soaked. I could change my shirt, but my pants, underwear, socks were totally soaked. I let Rick go ahead, ran in the opposite direction on the loop until I found Iliana. Her piriformis and ITB were hurting, so she wanted to go to the car and just go to sleep.

We hiked all the way down to the car which was pretty miserable. I was completely soaked, hiking through snow. When we got to the car, with my teeth chattering, I wondered why I should even bother going back. I had an extra pair of pants, extra running jacket. I borrowed a sports bra and socks from Iliana; I didn't have underwear but figured I'd be fine.

When I got to the top, I was ready to run again. I was bummed at my problem, but felt fairly good. Rick and I ran together for a few more laps until he decided to leave. I said goodbye and then ran in the opposite direction until I found Tom. Just having met him that night, we easily chatted about races. He was quite interesting.

However, the lack of underwear was making me miserable. Let's just say I was experiencing some pretty horrid chafing. I finally had to stop, and Tom decided he'd leave as well. We hiked down the mountain together.

I probably would have stayed out a few more hours if I had been wearing underwear. Lesson learned? Pack extra underwear.

This morning I finished my weekend of run with a 2hr run, weight lifting, and a yoga for runners workshop. Now I'm ready for bed.

I can taste the fun I'll have at Umstead 100 Miler; I can't wait!