Things to Consider...

Things to consider before planning a 20 mile long run.

1. The time of the run.
2. The route.

Consider these two items carefully... Because, I didn't. Which is why at 5am on Saturday morning, Carolyn and I found ourselves running in pitch black darkness on rural-ish back roads with no street lights, no shoulders, and a frightening 45 mph speed limit.

Ummm.. Awesome.

The first hour or so was a little... interesting. We were constantly running back and forth to opposite sides of the road when we saw headlights. It was annoying. Where the hell were all those people going at 5am on a SATURDAY morning, anyway?? Ugh.

Once the sun was up, we found an enormous neighborhood to run through (with some enormous hills) and were back at our cars with 11ish miles. We refueled, Carolyn peed on my car (don't ask), and we took off for the last 9 miles. Where did we go for those last 9 miles??? Percy Warner Park, of course. Amazingly, those nasty hills felt kinda good on my legs. And before I knew it we were done with the run and heading home.

So, yeah... our 20 miler went really well. Almost TOO well. I mean, Carolyn's battling a bit of an injury, so she might not have been able to walk the rest of the weekend... but, I felt fantastic! No soreness, no stiffness, I didn't even take a nap on Saturday! (Clearly, I am jinxing the shit out of myself right now and in return will have a helluva next long run).

Unfortunately, it went so well that I don't think that Carolyn will have a very good FIRST timer story. But, in the long run (hardy har har)... I'm sure she's happy about that. She'll just be one of those annoying bitches who's all... "yeah, I really didn't have any problems getting my first 20 in." And people will hate her. (Actually just typing that, I kinda hate her already).