A Running Date

This morning, Wendy and I met in Deerfield Beach, by the pier (pictured below), at sunrise. Deerfield is about half way between us. (Although, I think it may be a little closer to me than to her, but because she gets to drive a Porsche, I think it's fair to make her do more of the driving, right?)During the week, we had settled on doing 10 miles together -- for me that was a significant build in miles considering I hadn't done a "long" run since before Chicago and I would have to guess that it's been approximately 8 weeks since I've done anything longer than 6-8 miles -- for Wendy, this is a shorter distance, but since she's "tapering" (I put that in quotes because her taper includes mileage that for many of us would be "peak" miles in training) before Marathon of the Palm Beaches, she was okay with the shorter run.

Unfortunately, I don't have accurate splits to record here because I stopped my Garmin at a light and then, two miles later, realized I hadn't resumed its timer. But, the Garmin tells me that for the miles I do have recorded that the average pace was 10:45 -- this is due in large part because I forced us to take a few walk breaks (at first my tummy was kinda upset after a GU and then I was just plain pooped). I know that this is uber-slow for Wendy, so I do appreciate her patience with me!

But despite the relatively slow pace, the run went by quickly. I guess that's how it is when you have someone to talk to. I mean, I've run with people before -- frequently, actually -- but when you don't know those other runners that well, conversation can sometimes be...well...lagging. But, because I feel like I already know Wendy (despite us never having met in person before this morning), the conversation was much easier. And the time flew by. So, before I knew it, we were back at our cars, at the pier, and we were done.

Before we parted ways, I felt I was obliged to snap some pics -- since the elusive Wendy rarely posts pics of herself, and when she does, we all complain that they're often blurry. So, for your blogging pleasure, below is the non-blurry Wendy (standing by the trunk of her Porsche, BTW, can you tell that I am jealous?).

And here is a pic of the both of us -- post run so we're both sweaty and I have some kind of strange cow-lick going on. Maybe next time, I should remember to whip the camera out before the run.
All in all, it was a good run: cooler temps, good scenery, good company, and it forced me to return to some more significant mileage. Now, I'm home and showered, and after I get me some breakfast, I know that I should go do some Christmas shopping (haven't even begun yet), but a huge part of me also wants to make the couch my home for the day. We'll see which choice wins out.