Tuesday, February 14, 2012

10 Mile Run For Sherry Arnold


SUAR had a bib done for runners all over the world to print out and wear on February 11th in honor of Sherry as they ran or walked a half mile or a 50K.

I've had a couple of icky moments out on the roads when running alone, and I am about as paranoid as one gets, but to be in a small town where everyone knows everyone, no one locks their doors and you go out just like you would any other day...to have evil unwillingly take you?

I haven't run alone in the pre-dawn hours for quite some time now.  After the last scare I just couldn't bring myself to walk out into the dark and run by myself.  Yes I know that bad people are out at all hours of the day, however I certainly feel much safer when its light out, and I have even altered my routes to make sure that I am in well occupied areas.  And thankfully where I live now there are so many runners and bikers that I feel much safer when I am out.

Anyway, not to get up on that whole safety while running alone soapbox, but ...

So Saturday morning the alarm went off and for the first time in a while, I didn't want to get up.  But I knew that Sunday was going to be COOOOLD and I didn't want to ruin my whole day by having to do 10 miles on my own.  So up up up...

Got out the door and off to base.  Since I got there a bit too early, I went ahead and ran a couple of miles there at base before doing the route (which was a 10 mile loop).  I turned around at the 2nd water stop and headed back (for the 8 miles I needed).

It was still a bit colder than I thought (37deg with a 29deg feels like with the wind), but still glad I went with shorts and a long sleeve.  A couple of times my thumbs got cold (outside of half hand cover and sticks out through the thumb hole of the long sleeve Lulu Run Swiftly tops), but I would just readjust by putting my thumbs out of the thumb holes and pull my sleeve over for a bit and then it would be fine.

Another reason I opted to do the 8 mile portion was because, and this hardly ever happens, I was glad for this route back in an area where there is usually NO air or wind and makes it incredibly stuffy.  But today it was a Godsend.  The winds were blocked and I was able to just stay cool and get a big time negative split with my final mile coming in at 9:50 (overall pace for 10 miles was 10:20).

I thought about Sherry Arnold a lot.  And I also thought a lot about my friend who lost her mom on Friday, just the day before.  She passed on the 10th of the month, just like my momma.  We are coming up on a year now since momma passed away (March 10) and while I think of her at least once a day, its becoming more and more prominent in my thoughts as the 1 year anniversary approaches.

I miss her so much.

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