US 4- Late posting

Hi, it’s Laura,

NOTE:  I wrote this Friday morning and was waiting for my "editor" Apparently he was away for the weekend.

I really, really did not want to run six miles this morning. Last night (Thursday, 5/24/2012[Editor’s Note: This submission is late due to me]), we arrived in the mountains and the car ride up was rough. During the ski season we make the trip every Friday night and we are conditioned for it (you can train for anything). This drive seemed to last forever. When we arrived, although we were tired, we were wound up as sat up until about midnight.

One thing about being 4,000 feet above sea level is it has a different effect on your body. One glass of wine at this altitude is like two glasses at sea level which would explain my monster headache this morning. Three Advil, two cups of coffee and a bottle water and I'm getting there. Don't mention the rain yet. It’s absolutely pouring. I drink more water and more coffee. By the time I finish the rain has stopped. Time to go.

I have been planning this run for at least week. If you don't know, Vermont has a lot of mountains. So avoiding hills in Vermont is like trying to avoid the heat in Hell.

With my knowledge of the area, I decide that going down into the valley would be my best bet. I can avoid the “oh so treacherous” East Mountain Road and even the “just as annoying” Killington Access Road.

US4 is relatively flat with a nice wide shoulder. I head out in a nice bright orange shirt so I can be seen by the cars and trucks. Oh yes trucks, big ones, moving at 50 MPH coming right at you. In a word: scary. Did I mention the fog? Yes it foggy and I am running in the shoulder of a major highway in VT (genius).

I am very fortunate to live in NYC and have designated running paths. I got a taste today of how people who live in rural areas have to train. If they do not belong to a gym, they are running or riding outside in the middle of nowhere. I felt very alone out on that highway. it was just me and my iPod down the stretch of highway.

It was a daunting enough task. Add the fog, the slight hangover and some hills and I was ready to call it a day 15 minutes into the run. Of course I rationalize that with my two different training plans one says 30 min run today and the other says 6 miles I figure “at the 15 min mark you’re good and you can turn around”. I was actually not feeling all that bad so I kept going. I made the turn at mile 2.5 and start heading back. I knew the hill was steeper going back and I wanted to finish my run….Downhill!

At mile 4 I noticed cars had their windshield wiper on. I did not notice the rain at first because the humidity was so high it already felt like rain. Then it started to pour. For the next two miles it was “Cats and Dogs” and finally stopped when I got back to the car (of course) .

But now the run is done and just a Brick left for the week yay!

Enjoy the long weekend

Play hard!
Laura