With a little help ...

I'm writing this post from the Virgin America departures lounge at Boston's Logan International Airport. (Thanks for the free wifi, Logan!) I fly to San Francisco today and run my sixth race tomorrow.

Anyone who's been following this blog ... well, has probably given up sometime in the past month and a half that I've failed to update. It turns out that it's hard to train in the summer. I thought, since Rhode Island has been mostly spared the insanely hot weather that's been plaguing most of the rest of the country, that I'd be able to get out and run, but even when the air temperature is under 90°F (which is most of the time), the sun feels strong enough to make me feel icky when I'm trying to run.

The answer, of course, is to get up early enough to run before the sun is very high in the sky. I was sure I was going to do this all summer, but for various reasons, I haven't been feeling rested enough to get up early and run, and I haven't been getting it together enough to fix that.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, I fear.

But it gets better! I spent the past week at a teacher-training workshop at Taft Educational Center, where I had to live pretty much on my school-year sleep schedule again, which meant I could get up and run before breakfast. There was even a perfect three-mile loop created by streets around Taft. This was an ideal opportunity to restart my training regimen and be somewhat back in shape for tomorrow's race. The only problem? There was a seriously nasty hill around the 1.75 mile mark, and Monday morning's run was pretty humbling. Keeping myself motivated to repeat that loop every morning was going to be tough.

Fortunately, I met a fellow runner named Adam at breakfast on Monday morning. Adam mentioned being in training for a marathon, and as it turns out, has completed a marathon or two already as well as an Ironman. Adam is going to be coaching cross country this fall. Adam is a much more accomplished runner than I am.

And, as the case seems to be with many runners, Adam is a very kind and patient person, who was actually interested in running just three miles with me, even at my 11-minute-mile pace. With his encouragement, I got up that hill again on Tuesday and didn't take Wednesday off (and was only half-miserable about the hill). Even though Adam had to take the next two days off due to leg pain, talking to him about my training kept me motivated to get up and run Thursday and yesterday. I got caught in the rain on Thursday and turned around before I got to the hill, but I conquered it on Friday and felt really ready for San Francisco.

(Also, it turns out that the 5K course for tomorrow's race is going to be completely flat. Ha!)

This is just one example of how I'm getting through the next couple of races with a little help from friends, new and old. The main objective of this trip to SF and Portland (OR), after all, is to visit the friends I have out there. They're just nice enough to help me get to my races while I'm there. Including my friend Alberto, who has agreed to get up at the very crack of dawn next Saturday to drive me 45 minutes out to Forest Grove so I can check Oregon off my list.

I am thankful for my friends, new and longtime, named here and not (but probably named here someday).

Stay tuned for news about tomorrow's race ...