Long, faster than expected run with Matt and Angie. A thunderclap that sounded like a bomb woke me up at 2:15. Only Jack cried, which was surprising. I got up after 3 more hours of listening to the rain and thunder. Breakfast was oatmeal and PBH sandwich. We met and headed 20 miles up the road from Huntsville, placing drinks every 5 miles. I wanted 4 mile stops, but I didn't want to seem like a baby. All the bathrooms were locked at the top, but runners are good at improvisation. So the plan was to run 12-15 miles easy down the hill, then pick it up at the end for some marathon pace. Matt missed the memorandum though, and we took off running crazy, 6:40 pace from go. There was no letting up, as this course is pretty steep. We were so dialed in, we ran right past our 5 mile water stop. At mile 10 I had a flat Dew (bad idea) while the others GUed. We commented how fast we were going, but nobody seemed capable of holding back. We got onto the familiar miles of the Ogden Marathon and Striders Half marathon course, and the fast miles just kept coming. I figured we'd end up dying at the end, but we just kept pushing, finishing up with 6:50 miles for 18-20. Once we got to the park, my feet were cooked. We got a drink, chatted with Jake and Andrea, then slowly (finally) ran another couple miles. My only regret of the run was that the Chevron was sold out of chocolate milk. Today my legs feel tired, but not beat up. That run was more than I bargained for, but I'm glad of it. Matt and Angie are tough runners. Angie dragged me along through some gut-wrenching miles at 16-17. I was glad to have pushed through, cuz the rest of them felt better. I'll take all those data points I can get. | 