First, the distance was 12 miles, another all-time high for us. Last week's 10 was a milestone and jumping up to 12 miles seemed like a lot. During previous weeks, we would add just 1 mile each week.
Second, we were without our pace leader, Dave. (We'll devote more time to Dave in a later post.) Besides the fact that we look forward to talking to Dave every Sunday, we have never had to keep a steady pace on our own, much less our specific training pace. During the weekday runs, we can run as fast as we want, with variable distance, time and speed.
Third, we had to monitor the actual distance. The Lake Geneva Lakefront Path is 21 miles, and without dyslexia, that distance was not going to work for the 12 miles required of us. We rarely notice the mile markers in Chicago when we run along Lake Michigan. Even if there were mile markers along Lake Geneva, which there were not, they probably would not help. Also, because of the distance, we can't merely run the full circle.
Fourth, there was actual terrain here, unlike in Chicago. While most of it is generally flat, the Lakefront Path had a few very steep hills and some uneven ground. It was a bit more exhausting than we were used to. There were also some parts where the dirt path resembled a marsh with all of the recent rains. It did not take long for our shoes and socks to get saturated.
In the end, the run went pretty well. We had a lot of help from one of our college friends, Heather. As our team name indicates, we might be runners. She actually is a runner. She joined us on our run -- she's one of the friends at the reunion. She was equipped with a Garmin Forerunner, which monitors distance with the assistance of satellite communications. She also led us for most of the run. It was also nice to have some time to catch up some more and we talked while we ran.
The Lakefront Path is interesting because as a right-of-way, it follows the lake shore through private property. On the path, there were some of the most beautiful homes we had ever seen. Some of the mansions made us feel like we were running through a Merchant Ivory film. Kinnier tried drinking from his water bottle with his pinkie raised and hoped to run into Helena Bonham Carter. (She never appeared and might be busy filming the next Harry Potter film.) The change in scenery definitely made the run feel new and helped motivate us even on the hills. The actual marathon will be in totally new surroundings, so it's probably good that we get away from our crutch of Lake Michigan from time to time. We made it pretty close to our desired pace even though we started out at a pace 20 seconds per mile slower during the first half.
Statistics:
Distance: 12.0 miles
Start Time: 7:12 a.m.
Time: 2:20:11
Location: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Maximum HR: 159
Average HR: 141
Money Raised to Date: $1597
Days until Race: 107
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