What a Difference Friends Make

   So it's Saturday again...time for another long run. Yigit and I show up at the Cheema trails at 5:45am. The plan is to do the ~ 5 km loop 8 times. The alternating trail will work our legs in a slightly different way and likely take us 45-60 min longer than the same distance on the road.
   The headlamps are on and off we go into the dark. It's hard to explain but there is something very cool about running in the dark in the woods. Perhaps it is the adrenaline rush you get when you hear little sounds in the woods as you are running and when you flash your beam into the woods you are relieved to not see anything but at the same time wondering what the hell made that noise? Or was it just in my head?
  After 2 loops we are back at the car to meet Mary and Gordon. We drop the headlamps at the car and head back in. Who knows what we talked about and how many different subjects. It's funny...how often other than a run with your family and friends do you get the time to have long talks like that...it is such a great way to catch up on the week. Not only that...before we know it we are back at the car and they have their 10km run completed. Time flies when you are chattin' with friends on the run!
   Back in Yigit and I go...not gonna lie...this is the third week in a row of doing a marathon on Saturday and the legs are starting to get real achy at the start of the 5th loop. Yigit is struggling a bit as well but the idea of stopping early is never even mentioned...perhaps not even thought about? Yigit?-)
   We are rounding the turn for the last trip to the car to restock nutrition and fluids to head back for loops 7 and 8 and I see a big golden retriever running towards me. "Hey, I know that dog!" As I look past the dog I see my friends Liam and Marcia who came out to join us for part of our run. It is amazing the difference seeing friends who you haven't seen in a while can make. I was getting to the point where my legs were getting really achy and after they joined us my achy legs went away. We chatted away and before I knew it we were giving our good buy hugs and Marcia, Liam and Egan headed back into the woods to finish their 15km run. Liam and Marica will never know how much of a difference joining us made to me in getting through that run. Thanks to you both...Egan too! :-)
   Another marathon in the books. Hats off to Yigit...I know he was struggling towards the end but in some ways this was a bigger milestone than breaking his personal best marathon time 2 weeks earlier. A lot of distance running is mental...being able to continue on when your mind is telling you to stop can be critical to finishing. Today was more about training our mind to take one more stride even though our mind was saying stop. This will be key to getting across The Rock!
   Thankfully I also have a very supportive wife. When I got home she had my lunch all ready...it doesn't get any better than that! :-) Not to mention she did this after completing a 20 mile (32 km) run herself that morning. She is not a big fan of the trails so she did her run on the roads.
All the best!
--J