Two paths diverge...

As I've indicated, the wife and I are currently training for the Goofy Challenge in January - running the Walt Disney World half-marathon on Saturday and the full on Sunday. Mostly, our training has been the standard marathon plan (mirroring what we did two years ago for our first marathon). Some weekends, we've added in a second longer run so approximate the demands of the Goofy, but none longer than six miles or so. Until this past weekend.

We were scheduled to do 22mi, based on the marathon plan. However, neither Saturday or Sunday offered a long period of time in which to do so, as the wife had gotten us tickets to the live version of Phineas and Ferb on Saturday (so much fun!) and we were going to the Ravens v Colts game on Sunday, both of which fell in the early afternoon. So, we decided to split up the run and run 10-11mi each day. Having done 20mi each of the previous two weekends, we figured this would be much easier.

Due to the schedule, we needed to run early. Our usual plan has been to sleep in on weekends until 10am or so (we both miss a lot of sleep during the week due to our hectic schedules and this is the only way we stay sane) and then run. This was not going to work, so we opted to get up on Saturday and run the Howard County Striders Bagel Run, a tradition of many years where folks go out and do their long runs starting as a big group, with course options from 5mi up to 30mi. We've largely avoided these as they are early and we tend to run slower than most of the folks there. However, the timing worked out this week. We got up and met our friend Mo, where we dropped off her car at the 5mi mark (she's been out of running recently so this seemed a good distance for her). We then drove up to the start and ran, the three of us until 5mi and then the wife and me for another 5mi. This was actually a nice breakup of our normal routine, having Mo around for a while to talk about different things and then some running-alone time with the wife. Afterward, we went to the Wilde Lake Bagel Bin (hence the name of the run) with the best cycling instructor in the world and her husband (they ran longer but quicker) and I had the best pizza bagel I've had in months. Delicious. 10mi = piece of cake. :)

Day two. No organized run this time and we got up at 7am instead of 6.30am. We drove out and ran the same 10mi course that we did the previous day. This time it was just us and neither of us felt that bad. Decent run, but no pizza bagels at the end this time.

By the end of the day on Sunday, both the wife and I would barely stay awake. We were exhausted. Both of our sets of legs were sore and tired on Saturday night and mine were very tight on Sunday. by 8pm, we were both falling asleep. By 10pm, we were in bed, fast asleep. While running 10mi each on both Saturday and Sunday was a good plan, and we totally needed it for the Goofy, it really took a lot out of us and made us realize that running 20mi is much different than running 10mi twice in a row. It's also been quite some time since we've done the Bagel Run and that was fun. We didn't run with too many others, due to pace differences, but having Mo around for a while was great and then bagels afterward, and the company of over 100 runners in a cramped little bagel shop was fun too. This won't be an every week thing (sooooo early...) but I think you'll see us there more often from now on...when we need to run early that is. :)