Sunday, May 4, 2014

11 miles of fun and friends on the Bethpage trail

This was the best shot of me (out of 3) so imagine the others
Today's run (Bethpage bike path): 11 miles

This morning I set out to cover 11 miles on the Bethpage bike path. It was the company of friends that helped me manage so well and made the experience great. Prior to today's run, my longest run in 2014 was 9.7 miles. This was a 12% mileage increase, but I felt fine throughout the run.

We were hoping to make this a full Runsketeer run, but SIOR had to attend the soccer games and track meets for her dozens of children (4 really). TPP and I met up near the Bethpage trail and started our run north. We were hoping to run into Jonathan who I met on the bike path a couple of weekends ago. Our hopes were met when we saw he and his wife Katherine running in our direction. We quickly fell into formation running south.

Jonathan and Katherine are training for an upcoming marathon in Vermont and they have been training a lot on this bike path and the dirt trails that run close by. Bethpage provides a lot of hills and that's probably good since they'll be racing in Green Mountain country. We ended up running about two miles together before our friends, who'd started about three miles north of our starting point, turned back. They are great people and I look forward to running with them again.

TPP and I continued our run, going beyond the north trail head, passing through Bethpage State Park and then further south past Hempstead Turnpike. We turned around at 6.25 miles. On the way back, TPP unleashed her inner greyhound and began to insert 100-200 meter bursts of speed. She's very quick and I can see why she was a sprinter in high school. If she was the hare, then I was the turtle, maintaining the same pace throughout most of the run. I did pick up my speed a few times as we got closer to the finish point, when I felt I could spend some energy.

TPP, in living color
The trail wasn't as crowded with runners as it normally would be on a pleasant Sunday. Perhaps everyone was off running the LI marathon, half and 10K today. Still, there were cyclists and some runners. TPP, with her vivid attire, got her share of admiring looks. TPP felt that today's run was a good affirmation of her current conditioning and I felt the same. After covering 11 miles and feeling great, 13.1 miles in Brooklyn feels far less intimidating.

Our next Runsketeer event will be very different (more to come on that) and SIOR will definitely be a big part of that. We really missed her today. I'm very pleased with today's run and I owe much of it to my friends who make me a better runner.

13 comments:

  1. If you can do 11, you can do 13.1. Piece of cake! ;-)

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    1. Thanks, my thoughts exactly. My training for my last half ended in a 12 miler and I'm planning the same for next week.

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    2. I'll be there with you! Same place, same time?

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    3. We'll have to see how early we'll feel like starting after SIOR-Palooza. : )

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  2. Ugh. My previous post did not save properly. I forgot what I said, but I'm sure it was motivating in some way. I look fat in that picture. :)

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    1. Thanks for the encouraging words : )

      And if by saying "fat" you mean "really good", then yes.

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  4. You guys are awesome! A good day for everyone! I'm sorry I missed you (again), but I will make it up to you by forcing Pete to cook a fabulous meal on Saturday. I will be too busy hostessing and wine tasting with TPP. And TPP, you are trés photogenic!

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    1. This will be a great Runsketeer event! I may even have a beer.

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    2. Thanks, A! It was a great run day indeed. Great company, weather, mileage, I was feeling pretty good! I'm looking forward to Saturday!

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  5. You are the bestest running buddy a sister could ask for her sister! <3

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    1. He and A are! We were talking about just that on the run. It's pretty fortunate the three of us found each other! Yay for blogging!

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