Sunday--Long run day--Secret Service Fun Day

Galloway's training plan called for a three-mile long run this week. And heaven knows I love a plan! Somehow, if it's on paper, I feel justified in doing it regardless of whether or not I'm already ahead of that mileage. But then my best friend shot me a text last night, and she asked me to run the lake. Yep! It's the foundation of our friendship--yep! We get into so much fun because one of us is willing to ask the question (whatever the question might be) and the other one always answers, "Yep!"

The lake is 10 point something miles around depending on which roads we choose. Last week, Jen's knee was bothering her, so we walked the whole lake. Plenty to talk about. And we were both sore for two-three days afterwards because walking is a different kind of a workout.

Today's numbers: 10.37 mile run, 2:30:53, 14:32 pace. We were really solid through the end of mile 7, and then the heat and the distance started to get to us, and we slowed down quite a bit. For most of the first seven miles, we were running two minutes, walking one. And I hit mile six or so and said, "Oh, I feel really good!" But within a mile, I was no longer feeling good. I never felt rotten, but my legs were just weary.

Today's bit of excitement on the run was realizing that the Vice President is still in town. In our town of 1500 or so, this is big news (although also somewhat irritating given the hassles it causes). We got two miles into our run this morning and encountered this sign:

It says, "Check point ahead." And then we noticed a bunch of cars lined up, and a bomb-sniffing dog, and we realized we had come up on the house where the Veep is staying this weekend. They actually blocked off about a mile of road for this. The checkpoint was a half mile before we got to the house where he was staying, and they had a checkpoint a half mile on the other end, as well. They eyeballed us as we ran by, but they didn't bother to check us out in any other way. The nice part? There was next to no traffic on that stretch of road for once. Normally, on 4th of July weekend, we'd be dodging vacationers all day long. So that was a bit of a treat. 

And then this was on the other end. It's not a great picture. I wasn't sure if they would let me take pictures or not, so I felt like I was being a bit sneaky.

Great run day today. Perfect temps. Perfect company. And just one little blister on my toe from the seam of my sock. Dopeying onward.