Doubling Up

In the previous post, Brenda mentioned some runners having to double up within a van cycle, i.e. run a leg, rest while the rest of your van-mates run, then run another leg before getting the more substantial rest afforded when your van goes inactive. Those of us who are veterans of the TIR know this is just a variant on what we are already doing, that is running three, or even four, times within a 30 hour span. The up side of Fred and Dorian pulling two legs within one active phase of van 1, and of Jon and Maeve doing the same later in van 2, is that you get that lift of knowing you're halfway done. In fact, as things work out, you are at that point 3 quarters of the way home - only one more leg to go. I won't sugarcoat it any beyond that. The bottom line is that our quartet of Fred, Dorian, Jon and Maeve who are pulling 4 legs each are allowing the rest of us to invest a bit more into our lesser mileage spread over 3 legs. Actually, when you look at the grand totals, the triple leggers in some cases are the mileage masters. Liz will log 20.63 miles and Arturo 18.85. What this tells me is that every runner on the team is making a substantial contribution. Your captain wants to thank you all.

They say "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions" and I have had the best of intentions these past weeks of running some daily doubles in order to emulate the field experience of the TIR. I should have done it last week, but only on Wednesday did I finally do a double. It actually felt pretty good to log a 4 miler in the morning and then a 7 miler late in the evening. I will strive for another 5 miler Thursday morning, testing my anticipated mileage of 16.87 this weekend. I'll take Friday off. I know we all have our methods of preparation, modified by the realities of jobs and other obligations, but I doubt any of us runs as varied a schedule as Arturo, who works for Mexicana Airlines. He recently gave me a glimpse of his routine (which I imagine is anything BUT routine), saying he would be in Mexico City, running at altitude, and a few days later in Vancouver, I assume running through the crowds of the Olympics' final weekend.

I look forward to this reunion of our band of runners and the opportunity to renew friendships while cultivating new friends. Happy running and see you all in Gonzales for the big weekend.