Yesterday the workout gods and the weather gods cooperated with me.  I had an easy paced run on my schedule and the weather was the perfect introduction to spring.  It was the ideal combination for taking my sidekick out with me in the jogging stroller.  She had been feeling under the weather and running a fever for a few days, but I thought the nice day and fresh air would be good for us both.

I was supposed to run 11 miles, which I had never come close to with the stroller, but I thought it would be okay since the pace was easy.

8 miles, as it turns out, is the limit of both of our comfort levels with the stroller.  For my part, it was one of those days where you actually catch a headwind both ways.  Which, is especially fun with a parachute of a jogging stroller.

As for her,  I didn’t hear a peep out of her until the 8 mile mark and even after she was only mildly grumbling here and there.  Now, to be fair, at some point along our adventure she had crapped her pants.  Which is strange, because I nearly did as well.  This probably had to do with both of our 8 mile expirations.  But, we made it the full 11 miles without incident.

The run was not without entertainment.  I passed a few burly male landscapers doing some work on a house.  I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were listening to the radio and it was the luck of the draw, but when I passed them it was timed perfectly with them working along to the chorus of Whitney Houston’s,  I’m Every Woman.  Yes, yes you are Mr. Landscaper.

At any rate, it was a great run and I’m glad I had her with me.  I feel so much less lonely when I’m running with her.  Like she really is my little running partner.

We met up with Ryan for our last mile.  He pushed her briefly and it was amazing how much easier my running felt.  Having her with me is good for both of us, I think.  She loves riding along and I’m getting the benefit of adding some resistance to my runs.  We’ll both be better for it.

I’m glad we are both enjoying our runs together now because I am registered for the Marine Corps Marathon in the fall.  I’d like to train for a nice, fast race.  It will be nice to be able to bring her along for some of the easy training. 

And as long as I’m registered for the Marine Corps, I figured what the hell, let’s just get crazy.  So, just today I mailed off an application for the JFK 50 ultra marathon.  Did you ever have one of those seasons that just spiraled out of control?  Like, okay, I’m registered for a half ironman.  I’ll have a nice base of fitness, let me register for a marathon.  Well, as long as I’m registered for a marathon, I may as well do a 50 miler a few weeks after that.  Before you know it, your nice easy fall has turned into quite the adventure.  Yeh, that kind of happened to me.  Three weeks ago I didn’t have anything on my fall schedule.  Now, I have a marathon and, hopefully, an ultra.  JFK is tough to get into, so I won’t know if I made it in for a week or so, but keep your fingers crossed for me…..I think.

I suffer from the worst case of sport amnesia.  I’ve done a 50 miler before.  I’m pretty sure as I was crossing the finish line in part shuffle, part crawl I made Ryan promise me that he’d never let me register for another one again.  Yet, somehow, now all I remember is that it was a nice jog through the woods that involved unicorns drinking out of a babbling brook.  Oh well.  It’s this same amnesia, I guess, that makes women want more kids.

The best thing about JFK is that it is the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I am already planning on how much stuffing I get to cram in my pie hole, guilt free.  The table won’t be able to hold it all. 

We better get a trough.