Thursday, November 3, 2011

Absolutely Whipped

We let our compatriot go at the short cut and kept running along the Boston Run trail. One of the three remaining members of the group said, "If we pick it up, we can probably catch her."

I kept stride with the two guys for a few minutes, but then my 23 miles last month caught up to me in the form of a side stitch and short breath. Finally, I let them separate and tried to relax my lungs a bit as I continued to glide across the rolling hills and protruding roots covered in fallen leaves.

A few minutes later, I saw my two Wednesday night running group members waiting at the top of a hill. When I reached them, they said, "We realized we're not going to catch her."

"Yeah, I realized that awhile back," I said. Back together as a group, they pushed my pace again. The hills started to get tougher as we neared the end of the trail, which finishes with a steep gut-buster.

By the time we reached the parking lot, I felt like I'd just run a 5-K race. The three-mile loop had simply devastated me. I declined a second lap and headed home.

It's been a long time since I felt the burn from such effort. Felt good. I'm already planning a follow-up this evening. My reward will be the Great Lakes Christmas Ale (aka "Christmas Crack") that my lovely wife picked up this week.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the joys of being married. Being able to say things like "... that my lovely wife picked up."

Nitmos said...

...unless it's prefaced by "I got an STD..."

Ironman By Thirty said...

Two comments and no one is jumping on the fact that running aside we know that Viper is now whipped simply based on the premise that he is married now?? I guess I'll have to pick up the slack.

You are whipped for life my friend.

Every Ohioian (is that what you are called?) I know raves about the Christmas Ale. Hard to find in GR though. Found it in singles at a specialty store last year but no 6-packs yet.

Robin said...

Don't forget that your Christmas Crack now comes in ice cream as well!