Spastic group run (with bonus post-run pic!).

First, let me send you all a HUGE thanks for your kind comments and emails about the whole hospital/croup episode. I appreciate it all. Conal is MUCH better and he should be back to normal by the end of the week.

Now, about last night's spastic group run.

It was a big night because the plan was for the runners to run their first continuous mile. Their longest run!

Anyway, we planned to meet at 6 and run on a path that follows the river. I sent directions to a parking lot next to the boat launch, not realizing that there was another parking lot just south of that one. So, of course, at 6 there were three of us at the boat launch lot, waiting for two others. I checked my cell phone -- no messages. We waited. We walked on to the path and looked around but the others weren't there.

At 6:10, I put a note on my windshield and we headed off. I was running with Bridget and Janis and we had a bit of a time crunch because Bridget had to get home by 7. So, we couldn't wait any longer.

We walked for a quarter mile and then took off for the mile. Janis and Bridget did great! I know it was hard, but they stuck with it and finished the mile in about 10:45. Really good, right? We followed the run with a quarter mile walk and then the plan was to run a half mile, walk a quarter, run a half and cool down. Bridget, feeling peppy, suggested we just run another full mile, instead of two halves. Janis was game so that's what we did.

At .95, we ran into Jen and Lisa (the other two runners who were supposed to meet us) walking toward us. They had gone to the other parking lot! Well, since Janis and Bridget were almost done with their second mile, I sent them on their way to cool down and told Lisa and Jen I would run with them.

They had already walked more than a quarter mile so we took off for the mile. Lisa ran a little over a half mile and I continued on with Jen, who pulled out the whole mile! Then we walked, met up with Lisa and finished the plan (.5 run, .25 walk, .5 run, cool down). Since Jen is my speedster, I encouraged her to run ahead at her pace for the two half miles. I stayed with Lisa for most of each interval, and then sped up to catch Jen and tell her when to slow to a walk. It was nice knowing this pregnant runner could still pull out some speed :-)

Here we are post-run:

That's me looking like I have the biggest head in the world, with Jen and Lisa. Way to go, happy runners!

All in all, my gals did AWESOME!!! I only wish they had a less spastic "coach" who would have been more clear about the directions. We'll know better for next time. The path is a nice one, running along the river, which, last night, was full of rowers:

I'm sure we'll check it out again sometime.

Have a great day, everyone. It is chilly and windy here in upstate New York -- hope it is nicer by you :-)

~ Felice