3.1 mile Panorama Loop with my buddies. We were all slow. I was recovering from my trail race and they were recovering from a hilly 10k that was in town on Saturday. Nice and chatty; just the way I like it. The air was sooooooo thick with humidity. I was dripping sweat from a measly 5k. I mean dripping.
A friend that I scrapbook with has a 9ish year old daughter named Carys who is a competitive gymnast. Well during the summer they are having to run .50 mile loops 3 times/week. They do 1 loop for a few weeks, 2 loops for a few weeks, 3 loops for a few weeks, and then 4 loops for a few weeks at the end of the summer. So, they are working up to 2 miles. Each loop has to be completed in less than 5 minutes which would be a 10 minute mile pace. Carys has been finishing her 1 loop in like 4:50 which is pretty good. But, other girls are beating her and she is not happy with that. So, Dawn (my friend - her mom), called me last week and asked me to come by and run with her for a minute and give her some pointers. We ran our first .50 in 4:18. We stopped at the end of the street and I gave her a few pointers and then we ran the second .50 in 4:04. Dawn had originally asked me to come by just this once to give my opinion, but I offered to come every Monday after my normal run to get in a few extra miles and work with Carys. I don't mind one bit. Actually, I could use the extra mileage. I think next week I'll try to push her to 1.50 without stopping in the middle for pointers like we did this time. Is that too much too soon for a 9-year old that doesn't really run much? Oh well... I guess we'll find out next Monday. I think last night was a success.
A funny little tid-bit: So when I got to Dawn's house we talked for a few minutes before Carys and I were ready to go. The family went inside and we were walking to the end of the driveway. I asked Carys if she wanted to stretch for a minute and I started stretching my calves on the curb. She was like "ummmmm... okay" and proceeded to do the splits, I mean completely do the splits, in the middle of her concrete driveway. OUCH! I told her that was enough stretching and started running. I nearly cried just looking at her. | 