12 Mile Run - Saturday 5/28

Today's 12 miler took me on a fairly new route in Virginia. I started along the Mount Vernon Trail but headed south instead of north. I hopped onto the Four Mile Run Trail (surprisingly close to the Potomac Yard shopping center) and continued west for a while before turning around and running back north, up toward the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Once I neared the bridge, I turned around and headed back in.

The run itself felt great, from the perspective of my legs and my lungs. However, my system was not at its finest. I will say, on this note, it is quite terrifying to use the facilities at Gravelly Point Park if you are not prepared for the low-flying airplanes. It gets very dark and loud for about 1/2 to 1 second while the airplane flies over the facilities. You would think it was a missile if you didn't know the airport was so close. 

This week, I noticed that the heat and sun are forcing people to put on certain articles of clothing: sunglasses and hats. I think it would be quite difficult for me to run with sunglasses, but I may try running with a hat next week. Surprise, surprise: it will likely be my Global Village hat from Habitat for Humanity. It will be another source of inspiration!

I was glad to have run so close to Arlington Memorial Bridge today. First, I saw a lot of American flags on or near it. The flags served as another reminder of why we have a three day weekend: to honor all the men and women who gave their lives in service. I had them in the back of my mind, especially since I am training for the USMC 26.2. Second, I noticed a sign on the highway (since the trail is pretty close to the highway at that point) that said that the bridge would be closed tomorrow (Sunday) from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. I appreciated the heads up, because I was thinking about doing a bridge walk tomorrow. Guess I'll have to reschedule it!

I saw tons of team runners on the trail today. The strongest presence, by far, were the Team Challenge runners on the trail - they all had dark grey technical tees with orange and white pocket logos. There were tons of them all throughout the trail. Team Challenge benefits the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). Interestingly enough, my first ever 5K in 2003 was run for the benefit of this group. The Team in Training group was also out in full force today. At one point, I was near a group of Team Challenge runners when they passed a group of Team in Training runners. One of the TC runners shouted to a TT runner: "Go team!" and the runner retorted, "Wooo, go team!!" Again - same source of inspiration to me this week as last week. I think it would have been a bit strange for me to have shouted out "go team" too, but I am a one-woman team (for now): Team PSAA. 

As I entered the last mile of my run, near the Crystal City waterpark, I saw the Team Challenge program handing out t-shirts and goodies to participants. I wonder if Memorial Day Weekend is the kickoff for many teams' training programs. Given how strong of a presence TC had today, I wouldn't be surprised if it was theirs. Plus, since it is 5 months away from MCM and about the same amount of time out for other fall races, I can see how groups would be starting their training cycles now.

To conclude, here are three more random things that I noticed/kept me distracted throughout the run:

1) A man that I ran behind who I am pretty sure had the same shoes as me - even though they are women's shoes. Perhaps New Balance makes a men's model that looks identical to the WR760SR? 

2) A crew team with a cox whose megaphone was way too loud and unnecessary for 7 or 8 in the morning.

3) A shirtless runner with a backpack that had straps going across his chest. I am convinced that that led to some unpleasant chafing.

Next week, I am going to take a slight deviation from my training plan. Instead of running the recommended 15K (about 9 miles), I will run 13 miles. Stay tuned to find out why.