- Sep 11, 2022
- 2 min read

Training - Week 6!

I started drafting this blog on a plane back from visiting my dear friend, Katie. We met when we were 4 years old. Although I moved away after 7th grade, we stayed close and have traveled all over the country and to Disney countless times. When she invited me to visit her for Labor Day, I knew I had a training plan to stick to, but she’s one of my biggest supporters. So we planned a trip with runs in the itinerary!

I flew up Thursday night after work, and we got to her home just before 1 AM. I forgot to pack the worst thing a runner could forget to pack – her Garmin watch charger! I had enough battery for my Saturday long run, but not enough for that AND my Friday run. I’ve been spoiled with Amazon Same Day Delivery, and the soonest I could get one was Saturday afternoon. So on Friday I borrowed her Garmin (different charger) for a 4-mile run around her neighborhood before work. I even found a Morgan road, and I had another “character stop” with the geese at the farm across the road. I don’t pause my watch for these stops. For the Disney races, we have to maintain a 16-minute pace from the last person who starts (the balloon ladies), and we can choose if and when we want to stand in line for pictures with characters. I’ll stop for selfies sometimes, but the only lines I stand in are for the park icons – Cinderella’s Castle, Spaceship Earth, Tower of Terror, and the Tree of Life. So counting bathroom and picture breaks in training runs is, well, part of the training!

On Saturday, Katie and I went to the Rail Trail for our 7.5-mile run in matching outfits! It’s a 21-mile long trail with parking lots, water, and bathrooms along the way. We ran two miles in one direction and back, stopped at the car for a Gatorade stop, and finished with a 3.5 mile out and back in the other direction. Except math wasn’t my strong suit, and I went a little too “out” before turning “back.” We crossed paths with the Pennsylvania Governor on an elliptical/bike contraption I had never seen before, and there were a lot more runners and bikers. I had to stop for a picture with the Pennsylvania train and at Captain Bob’s Crab Shack – a staple of my childhood summers. I felt good on the run, my last mile was my fastest mile, and my Garmin charger arrived later that day. Success!