8 + 3 = 11?

I did my first double today.

Part ONE:

My 38th birthday dawned hot and humid. Getting up at 5:26 a.m. to prepare for a long run was tough, but I knew I needed to stay on my training schedule, birthday or not. My running buddy Kelle arrived at 6:30 and we headed to the trail along the river about 15 minutes away.

That's when things kind of stopped going our way.

As we approached the northern trail head, we passed a pack of 7 large, loose dogs harassing about 5 dogs behind a fence. They were about an eighth of a mile from our parking lot. As soon as we got out of the car and got our gear together (water bottles, gels, cell phones, mace...), we heard lots of crazy barking. It sounded like the lot of them was headed our way. Oh yes, and our running group didn't show up or at least we couldn't find them. The parking lot was pretty much deserted. We hopped back in the car and decided to head to the southern trail head four miles away. On the way there, we passed tons of duck hunters--- guys dressed head to toe in camo carrying large guns. Apparently today was the first day of duck hunting season and our trail was near several duck blinds. I was thinking, "O-kay........ getting shot by a wayward bullet on my birthday would not be good."

At the other trail head, our group was still nowhere to be found. (There are only two entrances.) A lone car was in that parking lot. It was now 7:10 a.m. and at least 78 or 79 degrees with literally 100% humidity. And bugs. Lots and lots of bugs--- flying around, biting us. Spiders, too. I used to love this trail, but today it felt rather desolate and full of too many critters in general, while strangely lacking humans. (Last time we ran there, a herd of deer ran across the trail just a few feet ahead of us. A big one stopped and turned back to look right at us, then ran along. That was a little disconcerting. We're NOT WILDLIFE PEOPLE, if you couldn't tell. We DO NOT camp.)

We finally got started on our 11-12 mile run. By mile two, we knew it wasn't an 11-12 mile day. If we had started in the slightly cooler weather at 6:00 a.m., maybe. However, my outside thermometer read 74 degrees at 5:30 a.m., so it probably wouldn't have mattered. We ran the four miles of the trail and back for eight total and called it a day. It was too hot, we were getting eaten up by bugs, and we just weren't feeling it.

Part TWO:

We drove the 20-minute drive home. I came in the door and never got to even sit down. It was time to take my daughter to gymnastics at the Y. I loaded all three kids into the car (leaving my husband to do some home projects in peace) and headed to the Y. Since I was still in my running gear, I became MULTITASKING MOM. While she was at gymanstics, I hopped on the treadmill and finished the last three miles. I was able to do my post-run stretching while I watched the last 15 minutes of her class applauding as she finally learned how to land a cartwheel.

So, I guess I got my 11 miles in one way or another. I spent the rest of the day replacing all those burned calories with lots of birthday indulgences!