10/10/20
So this morning Nia ran a half marathon! There’s a running store/community in our town that does marathon & half marathon training every summer. For a few years, she teetered on the fence a bit, and usually ended up on the side of not doing it. “we’re too busy during the summer, we travel a lot, I’d miss the Saturday runs…”
That kinda stuff, which was very true. Seems like on a “normal” (non-COVID) summer, we were always visiting someone or having someone visit every weekend. With the stay-at-home measures in place this year though, she seized the opportunity to train for the race and crushed it.
Saturday, 10/10 was the day of the race, and it was technically the Hartford Half Marathon. But since the actual race was cancelled due to COVID, she participated in a “virtual” one. I.e., the group that she trained with organized a race at this really nice bike/walking trail in Simsbury.
After she took off, I drove to the halfway mark to wait for her and cheer her on when she got there. Crazy that it took me 15 minutes by car to get there!
She made it to the turn around, I checked my watch, she was going faster than she thought she would! I watched her fade off in the distance as she finished off her seventh mile. While waiting for her, I was eyeing up this pathway. It was an absolutely beautiful, I mean perfect, fall morning. Not a cloud in the sky, and temps in the high 60s.
Beyond the halfway point, the trail continued on all the way up to Massachusetts. I had about 1.5 hours and my surfskate in the trunk. I grabbed it and took off.
The asphalt trail was in great shape, and was slightly graded downhill. This made for a lovely cruise. I soaked in the breeze, the smell of dead leaves, and the sunshine where it shown through the trees. It was a pretty strait and flat trail, so no hills or bends to navigate, but I did carve and pump a bit. I rode out for 10-15 min before turning around.
Then I hopped in the car to go catch Nia finish her race. What a lovely morning.
MikeFundaro.com 