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Marco… Polo… water polo, that is, on the Olympics as I’m typing, so instead of watching the men’s US team beat China, I’m at my laptop, telling you all about my morning run here in the Poconos. My schedule called for a 10-mile easy run, but since I’d over-extended three other runs this week by a total of 2 miles, and I can feel my knees on the brink of a spiteful retribution, I decided to do an easy 8 instead, tracing the exact same route I’d run Saturday morning East & back on Route 940. Next week is big mileage (for me), so better to take it easy now, during my step-down week.

Saturday afternoon our friends LW and BM arrived, to spend the weekend with us chilling out in Pocono Lake, PA. They are welcome back anytime, since not only are they good company, but they came with three batches of cookies and three different salads in hand, all on a sliding scale from super-healthy to flat-out decadent. Since LW and I are both training for an endurance event (she’s doing an Olympic-distance triathlon in DC later this Summer), we of course took license to sample everything.  After a lively debate over dinner about athlete doping in the Olympics and all other level of sports competition, I lobbied hard for LW to join us, but I couldn’t argue with her need for rest & recuperation, especially since if this house gives one thing, it gives good sleepin’. Who was I to deny her that simple pleasure? So, it was me and BM, on my familiar out and back, except at about a minute and a half slower pace than I ran it yesterday.

BM brought along his Garmin 201, which I was grateful for, since I hoped it would give me an accurate read (finally) on the distance. We started out at 9 AM, with temps in the low-60’s and the sun happily shining down upon us. Man was it great to have someone to chat with. Apart from SR’s company during the NYC Half a few weeks ago, it’s been months since I’ve run with a friend. Not only that, but BM is a tall (6 feet, I think), muscular guy (he’s a personal trainer), so I felt like a little sprite flitting along beside him. Sometimes, relativism is a beautiful thing. Another thing I liked about the workout: I was running  a minute and a half slower per mile than I did on Saturday. This means I barely noticed the hills. Or rather: I acknowledged their presence in theory, but I could still talk, and breathe evenly, as I ran up them.

I carried Husband’s new camera phone with me, as I wanted to snap some shots of the sights during the workout. And I did take a few, as you can see, until it started raining. Somewhere around Mile 5, a sweet, cooling rain started. Ah. But then, somewhere around Mile 6, that sweet rain became a pelting downpour, and within a minute BM and I were completely soaked through, my two pigtails sorry little bedraggled ropes, and BM blinking ineffectually against the water. I said to him, “Now you’re hardcore!” He had to agree.

It eased up after a while, and then we had intermittent showers for the rest of the run.  There are four tough hills in quick succession over the last two miles of the route, and I’d been warning BM about them ever since we started, but as he didn’t remember running down them, I don’t think be believed me. All I have to say is that those hills aren’t nearly as spiteful when you’re running at a 10:30 pace. When we got to the base of the final hill, we saw the end point of our workout, and both kicked it into another gear and pushed it up the hill. Ultimately, the 8.4 (+?) miles took us 1:30:46.

We quickly scrambled into the car & headed home. LW, the angel, was already installed in the kitchen, making muffins. I stretched, BM showered, Husband awoke, and then all four of us sat down to a fabulous meal of whole wheat muffins, scrambled eggs, and smoothies. Afterwards, we all traisped up to the loft, tuned in to the Olympics, and nestled in to the Ass Magnet Couch. Let the napping commence! (Matilda agrees.)