Midway Between Half Marathons

We have been back for almost two weeks now, and while we love running in Atlantic Beach, it is nice to be back in Highlands running with friends again, on the familiar roads we know so well.  Dodging rain showers most of that first week, we ended up running by ourselves - I completed two runs down our road (and quickly remembered how steep that last 200-meter hill is up to our driveway) - but last Saturday we showed up to run with the group.  Hugs and handshakes were exchanged all around. We had a visitor, too, and I later wrote about her in our monthly newsletter:

The Highlands Roadrunners Club has a presence on the internet - http://www.main.nc.us/hrc/ - and I am often contacted by e-mail or phone through the link provided there from runners visiting Highlands.  On March 16, a young woman named Terry from Nashville visited us for the second time and wrote to me afterward:  “Thank you so much Richard!  It’s always wonderful running with you guys. Everyone is so kind and hospitable. I got my 9 miles in and it was perfect.  We are planning a trip back in August so I will probably see you then.”  So thanks to all of you who help make our running club kind and hospitable! 

That's what makes a Running Club so special, after all:  long-time companions enjoying each other's company and also welcoming new members and visitors.  Before we started this club 25 years ago, many of us would pass each other out on the road, running in pairs or alone.  But now (at least on Saturday mornings) we run together, sometimes as many as ten or fifteen of us; we have a presence, as I told Terry. 

Another week has gone by now, and I realized this morning that we are exactly mid-way between two half-marathons six weeks apart.  For younger and more capable runners, running these long distances so close together is not a problem; young bodies recover quickly from racing.  One of our friends whom we had seen at the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon had run a marathon two weeks before, and he ran another marathon two weeks later.  Even in my prime, I could only manage two marathons in a calendar year.  And in this brave new age group in which I now find myself, I know that I am pushing myself a little.  Martha had no qualms about signing up for the next race right away.  But for myself, I'm going to be cautious, waiting until next Saturday's 10-mile long run to decide for sure.  The planned long runs look like this:

13.1 miles - Myrtle Beach

5 miles

8 miles

6 miles

10 miles

6 miles

13.1 miles - Kitty Hawk

There is a nice symmetry to these long runs, and today we are at the very middle of that hourglass-shaped plan.  And so far, so good.  But it is not the first time that the quote attributed to Charles Barkley came to mind.