Birthday Celebration, Runner's Style

Let's face it, runners are an odd lot. How many times have you casually mentioned to a non runner friend details about one of your runs and they have looked at you like you are nuts? Exactly.

So when one of my athletes came up with the idea to run 40K on her birthday, I thought it was a fantastic idea! To be somewhat discreet, I won't say how old my client was turning, but you can kinda figure it out. I think back to my father's sage wisdom: "Always remember a woman's birthday, but never her age."

Nickie's plan was to run a loop trail around the lake at one of our area parks. The loop was right around 1.85 miles and a few of our running friends were going to join in the fun at different times throughout the run. Our buddy Ian wound up running the entire distance as a show of support! I joined in for the last 7 miles or so. I had a coaching session with a cross country client earlier that morning, doing one of my favorite XC workouts, mile repeats on grass. Nickie arrived early to the park to get started before the blazing NC heat rolled in and got a great shot of the sunrise.

We ran, we walked, we talked and laughed.......and since we are dog lovers, we stopped to pet all the dogs!

The dog whisperer

  Nickie hit the 40K mark and we decided to do a victory lap and get her to 26.2 miles. All in all a great day and I was happy to help her celebrate by sharing some miles with her!

Have you done any wacky birthday ( or other life event) celebrations that involved running? Let me know by leaving a comment!

Coach G