A Weekend of Running for Meg

At the end of this week as most runners around the country did I signed up to dedicate a run to #megsmiles. A runner name Meg from the Richmond, Virginia area who was hit and killed by a drunk driver. For me this just meant sticking to my marathon training runs. This is the first winter I have ever trained for a marathon. So far it hasn't been terrible but it certainly has not been as easy as I thought.

Saturday I set out for my shorter of my two weekend runs. I knew with my first marathon of 2014 being in Tennessee I had to get in some harder and more hilly runs. I set out on a route in Chesterton, Indiana with a group of runners who were ready for challenging run dedicated to Meg.

Photo Courtesy of Tom Little and I'm the awkward cold girl...

I mostly ran with my friend Tim. He is great company and a beast of a runner. He is in training for another 50... seriously. He truly inspires me. The hills were not easy and 9.08 miles of running a hilly route was just what I needed. Although running with Tim the miles just flew by. I also kept in the back of my mind that the run was for someone who was no longer out on the roads. The sun felt great and the weather was really not as bad as I anticipated. 

Photo courtesy of Marie! (thanks Marie!)

Sunday another group of running friends and met at a local school since we once again received even more snow yesterday and our bike trail is not an option to run on. The fast boys took off and we told them to have fun. Then we set out for two miles and picked up our friends who wanted to run shorter. The wind running south was brutal. I was so cold. At times my hands hurt I was so cold. We ended up running about another 5.5 miles out through the town of Crown Point. After we made the turn the street was slick and the wind was absolutely brutal until we finally made the turn to head back north. The sun started to peek out and it felt so great to have the sun on my back and the wind at my back. It was like I got a sudden since of relief. Only 7 more miles I can do it. We ran all the way back into the square of town and some people split off who needed to go or wanted to run shorter. Three of us ran another block to McDonalds to try to unfreeze the water bottles. We started doing some circles around town. Then there were two of us. 3 miles to go... The snow was really starting to get to me. My left foot was starting to hurt from running on packed snow. We rounded a corner and popped into a Speedway. Warmth. It felt great to be able to catch my breath. Finally we decided ok back to the car we go. As we were running into the wind my friend Tim and I took turns blocking the wind for each other... block by block by block. As we started to approach where our cars were I started to watch the tenths of miles click by... As were about to the school parking lot I told Tim 17.60... we have to circle the parking lot... so we did. We dove into our cars and turned the heat on. Of course we got back out for a post run photo. 

It was the hardest 17 mile run I have ever run. I never quit. I never thought it wasn't possible. I just kept clicking on and did it. Thankful to Tim for sticking it out with me. 69 days in counting until Knoxville!!