A City Adventure

I have never been so excited about a surprise water stop!

I am thinking that today is going to be a two-post day. I wanted to share a bit about my weekend adventures, but Saturday and Sunday were so absolutely different, that I do not think I can make them fit in one post. One at a time.

So let's start with Saturday. Our running group didn't have a training run scheduled for this weekend, because they were hosting a 10-mile race on Sunday. Since I would not be able to participate in the race, I made other arrangements for a Saturday run, unlike the rest.

You may recall that awhile back I mentioned that I had signed up to run Milwaukee as part of the blog, A Good Run. I am not actually posting until November, but decided to get the actual run in a bit early, as the distance we were looking at fit well with the current training schedule.

I didn't run alone. willrun4cookies7338 ran with me! She is an experienced marathoner, and has been a great coach for me throughout my training so far. I appreciate all of her motivation and expertise, especially when I ask dumb questions like, "What socks should I wear" and "Should my foot look like this?"

So Saturday morning, we hit seven different hotspots during our run through the city. Any guesses what they were?

I will save the details for my November post on A Good Run, but will say that it was a really fun adventure, that involved a little bit of freestyling, some surprise trail running when we got a bit off course, and a bonus stop towards the beginning of our journey. We discovered new, fun parts of the city that we didn't know existed along the way. Plus, we found some of the city's cleaner porta-potties. An important thing to know when doing long runs.

One of the best parts of the day was when we ran through the end of an organized 5K that we did not know was happening that day. I do not know that I have ever been so excited for a water stop. My bottle had been empty for a little while, and I was starting to get whiny. Since the race had already gone through, and the volunteer was tearing it down, he was nice enough to let us steal some water, even though we were not signed up for the race. Thank you good sir!

Even better, we completed 13.3 miles! It was hard to believe it, but I actually completed a distance further than a half marathon! We made pretty good time, considering that we were stopping to take pictures, and did some walking too. We finished in 02:53:39. Not bad! I was amazed at how good that I felt throughout the run, which I attribute that to the beautiful weather. I definitely still feel on track with our training program, and am reading for the 14-mile run this weekend.

I do not know if I ever would have said this before, but I honestly think that running is one of the best ways to see a city, which is why I am so excited about Steve's blog. You should definitely check it out and consider signing up yourself if you enjoy running. I believe there are still some spots left!

What would you highlight in your city?