Last Saturday, I got up just after 6, ate breakfast, and memorized our route for the day's run. My knees and ankles were a little achy, and I figured a little Icy Hot would do the trick. So when Brantley got up, he so kindly took care of that for me. In the past, I remembered it working almost instantly. I felt a little icy tingle, but it definitely wasn't working the way I remembered it. Well as it turns out, it had expired....6 years ago! Not a good start! I then became quite apprehensive, but I also knew I would finish the run-no matter what.
Luckily, Ryan's often bored at work so he has plenty of time to map out routes and work out all of the details. He came over Friday night and showed me three different courses. We chose a 10.6-mile route in South Charlotte. On the map, of course, the streets look like any others-just lines on a piece of paper. We drove about 40 minutes to our destination-the parking lot of a local YMCA. From there, we drove to our halfway point, dropped off our bag filled with water bottles and energy gel packs, and hoped our secret stash wouldn't disappear before we got there. We went back to the Y, took one last potty break, and stretched for a few minutes. I took off just before Ryan and headed down the sidewalk. We had been running on a trail or inside on the treadmill if it was rainy. So it was nice to finally be outside and on the streets. Everything was perfect-the weather, the location, the scenery. Ahh...the scenery. It was like we were in a completely different city. I wish I could've taken my camera along. Freshly cut grass, blooming trees and plants, and gorgeous homes and buildings had me gawking in amazement. We even ran past a car show. I've never seen so many ferraris and lamborghinis! Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen either of them...except in movies, of course. The entire run was beautiful, and the friendly dog-walkers and fellow runners all over the streets were quite encouraging. I could live the Ballantyne lifestyle :-)
We're headed to a nearby area this Saturday for our last long run before race day. Only 10 more days! I'm getting anxious!
No comments:
Post a Comment