Yesterday the Avon Need for Speed Relay was a sucess! I ran with a team of colleagues we finished the 60-mile course from Bear Mountain to New Rochelle in Westchester County in about 9 hours — definitely not a world record, but it was a lot of fun anyway.

My leg was slotted as a 5.3 mile moderate course. I dodged traffic most of the way and spent a lot of time in the open sun, and even ran through a cemetery for a mile or two. At around the time I should be finishing a 5.3 mile run, I kept my eyes out for the exchange point.

There was no one else on the course — only blue arrows and flags to point me in the right direction. More than 15 minutes went by past the point where I should have been finishing, and I couldn’t figure out why. Had I missed the exchange point somehow, and was now running someone else’s leg? Was the sun just making me really slow? I couldn’t figure it out, but kept running anyway — a little disappointed that it was taking so long.

As I was running up to the exchange point, someone said — did you know that this leg was actually 6.7 miles instead of 5.3 miles?! Although it’s a little astounding that the course description could have been off by that much, it made me feel a little bit better — it didn’t just feel longer than 5.3 miles, it was longer — by a mile and a half!

Anyway, it all felt great. My knee had been acting up for the last couple weeks, so I hadn’t done as much training as I needed to. But I wasn’t pleasantly surprised to feel just fine after my surprise distance run!

Now I am at home, a little tired from yesterday’s events. But it’s time to pack! I leave for the airport today around 3pm for Germany. I will be hanging out with mein Schatz and his friends and family in Hannover and Hamburg. Yes, in case you’re wondering, I’m sure we will be watching more than one World Cup football game! Then we head to Dublin for 4-5 days of sightseeing and conference attending.

I will try to post a little bit in between if I can. But otherwise, I will certainly post pictures when I return!