12 Hilly Hawaii Miles!

I wasn’t going to blog while I was in Hawaii, but my run last night was pretty amazing.

Like some of my best runs, it shouldn’t have been. My stomach bothered me Saturday night. (Which may or may not be connected with drinking my weight in beer.) I didn’t have much to eat yesterday and spent most of my day outside on the beach getting more dehyrdated. So, when Lindsay and I set out around 5 last night for 12 miles, I had no expecations of it being a great run.

But we set out, and I hoped for the best. Most of my running buddies are actually new friends, which is awesome, but it was great running for 1 hour and 59 minutes with someone you’ve known for a long time. Lindsay and I were roomies our freshman year at American. We were put in a forced triple (i.e., there were three of us in a room meant for two), and we’re still friends! I think if you can live in that close of quarters with someone and emerge friends, you’re probably friends for life.

She ran track in college and was really fast. Since running was so foreign to me at the time, I thought she was Superwoman. Otherwise, how else would someone not only run long distances, but run them fast?  She tried to get me to run with her, and I usually looked at her like she had three heads.

Finally, when I started dabbling in running after college (read my running history here), we’d occassionally run together. Lindsay was such a trouper, walking with me when I needed to, on what had to have been the easiest runs ever for her. We ran together last May when she visited me. We ran about 3-4 miles, and I was still taking frequent walk breaks.

When we had got about a little more than half way through our run last night (I didn’t want to jinx myself by asking before I was certain I’d finish), I asked her if she ever thought she’d run 12 miles with me.

“Honestly? No.”

Fair enough!

Lindsay ran the Kauai Marathon last weekend and is still pretty sore, so we ran closer to my pace than hers. She was already doing another long run because she’s now preparing for the Long Beach Marathon. Apparently Kauai is ridiculously hilly, so she couldn’t PR. Long Beach is supposed to be pretty flat. We averaged a 10:15 pace for our 11.6 miles, which is pretty amazing, considering we ran up hills and mountains.

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I run in NYC, which is almost entirely flat, so this hill thing was brand new to me. My extent of hill training is running the Brooklyn, Manhattan or Williamsburg Bridges. Lindsay showed me last night what real hill training is. Considering that my long runs are usually a little closer to an 11:00 pace—and flat—I’m really proud of myself for busting it out last night. With one more long, hard run under my belt, I’m feeling more ready for Chicago!

Now, back to the beach…