(Photo Credit: Dick Ross, SeeKCRun)

Well, maybe just a little bit. Week 5 of my half-marathon training journey ended with a couple of adventures and also saw the Kansas City area getting its first significant rainfall of the summer. That was heavenly. It started raining mid-afternoon on Friday, the last day of August, and at our home was still raining when we got up before dawn the next morning. Our rain gauge filled to overflowing and best estimates were that we received 7 inches of rain. It was glorious. As was the day after, for the first of September started off with the North Shore Trail Run.

And this is where my “little bit” of worry came in. The North Shore Trail Run was an 8 mile course, the longest distance I have run to this point, either in training or in a race/run setting. I was excited, especially after hearing from so many Trail Nerds how great the trail was at the State Park at Clinton Lake. And at the same time I found myself with butterflies every time I thought about the race on Thursday and Friday. My intent all along had been to go out there, run a relaxing pace, and just enjoy myself. When I awoke Saturday to a continued light rain, I smiled and knew I was about to have a lot of fun.

The rain had stopped at Clinton Lake before our arrival, the sky was overcast, and the temperatures were perfect. This was to be my first Trail Nerds event where it wasn’t “test your mettle” hot. At 9 a.m. the starting horn cried out and I was off on what was to be an hour and a half of joyous running. The trails were muddy and required an extra vigilance to avoid accidents but that need for focus actually made the run better in my opinion because the entire time I was hyper aware of the beauty all around me. This was a gorgeous trail. The up and down hills couldn’t have been placed more perfectly and there were nice stretches of relatively level ground during which you could look around at the trees and catch glimpses of the lake.

About a third of the way into the run I offered to let one of my fellow runners pass but she declined opting to stay with me at the pace I was running. This turned out to be a blessing to me because my fellow runner, Ami Hyten, ended up running the rest of the course with me and it wasn’t long before we were in our own ‘no man’s land’ where we were far enough ahead and behind various groups of people that it felt like we were out there on our own. We kept up a nice even pace, offering an occasional word of encouragement and pointing out potential trail hazards, and as we saw the finish line approach we got side by side and crossed in 1:35:16.

(Photo Credit: Dick Ross, SeeKCRun)

We finished 44th and 45th out of 73 averaging an 11:53 per mile pace. Speaking solely for myself this was my best running experience ever. I felt fantastic as I finished and these many days later can still feel the runner’s high whenever I think about it.

Ben Holmes and Coco Tieghi deserve HUGE props for the hours, very late hours, that they spent the night before marking the course in the dark and the rain. And of course they were out there bright and early along with Mel Carmella Baldridge (who then ran the 8 mile herself!) to make sure we had plenty of aid stations and were ready to start on time. Thanks to all three of you for making this such an amazing event.

(Photo Credit: Dick Ross, SeeKCRun)

I also want to thank my dear wife, Mary, for getting up much earlier than her body wanted her to on a Saturday morning to take the hour and fifteen minute journey to Lawrence, KS and for spending a couple of hours in soggy, muddy conditions just to be a cheerleader for me and for the others running. I’m very blessed.

The fun continued later that evening. Through my own postings about my fitness journey I’ve met a small but inspiration group of people who blog their goals, progress, etc. I started an email group called The Get Fit Gang in order for this group to be a source of accountability and encouragement to one another. One of the people I met through this process is Tim from Man in My Shadow. Tim has lost over 100 pounds and he is involved in an ongoing process of fitness that has seen him achieve several goals with more very exciting goals on the road ahead. I suggest you check out his site.

Tim and his wife Sheri were flying into our area to drive to Topeka, KS to vacation with Sheri’s family and we agreed to meet for dinner. We met in the early evening at one of my favorite bbq joints, Oklahoma Joes, and spent a few hours eating good food and more importantly having good fellowship. Tim and Sheri were a delightful couple and hearing their weight loss/fitness stories first hand was such an inspiration. I tend to be nervous about meeting new people and it was wonderful how Tim and Sheri put us at ease. They were so much fun and I hope we will see them again soon.

(Photo Credit: Sheri)

And that was pretty much my week. I logged 14 total miles and got 3 days of strength training in. My week started with a 3 mile run through foggy conditions that were also very fun. In fact as soon as I saw on the weather link that it was foggy I rushed to get out there to run in the thickest of it.

I don’t have any runs scheduled until the end of the month so for the rest of September I’ll settle back into a regime of easy runs coupled with long runs as I increase my mileage to be ready for the 13.1 miles on November 10th!

Hope everyone is having a happy and healthy week.