Being 6am and a Saturday morning is was still dark and, not surprisingly, very quiet ! After a quick photo shoot (just to prove we did actually go there) Kevin set off on his run. Yesterday I had made some changes to the route as we couldn't gain access to the parkland we wanted to run in until after sunrise so the first few kilometres were completed around a short road loop close to the office building.Google maps is a very good planning tool in telling you the distance of the routes you choose.....what it fails to tell you is the elevation change and there was a reasonably substantial hill on this loop that Kevin had to run up seven times.....I am sure he was cursing me by the end of this!
I also felt a bit self concious sitting beside the road in the pitch black with a stopwatch and a clipboard. At one point a police car trundled past, did a U-Turn and came back for a second look at what I was doing.......I was trying to work out whether to telling the truth about "timing someone running a marathon" would be believed !!!! Obviously I looked trustworthy (goodness knows how !!!!) because they didn't stop.
As the day dawned, Kevin ran back past the HQ building and off to the entrance to the Chattahoochee River National Recreational Area where the plan was 6 laps of 3.3 km around the "Cochran Shoals Trail". This trail is clearly the Atlanta runners favourite running location as it was packed, even at 07:30 on a Saturday morning.....and never quietened down all the time we were there. It is a very picturesque bit of woodland down along the river bank and Gary, our local coordinator, needs a big thank you for his recommendation on using this area....it was very pleasant for me sitting on a bench watching all the runners exercising in the early morning sun and passing Kevin food and drink each time he passed......I think Kevin found it pleasant running too.....but not as relaxing as my morning!
After the laps here it was then a 5km road run back past our hotel and up to the finish at Brumby Elementary School where staff from the HQ were taking part in a Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CRS) week event helping the pupils do some gardening and planting some trees and flowers.
As Kevin approached the finish he got a rousing welcome from staff, parents, pupils and teachers, which was a very nice way to finish what was a lovely run. Running early here was clearly a good thing as the morning was nice and cool but bright and it made for good running conditions and he completed the course looking very fresh in a time of 4 hours and 37 minutes.
It also gave us plenty of time to refuel depleted energy reserves with a very nice burger and fries before we made our way back to the airport, returned the hire car and checked in for our 9:15pm flight.So.....one more marathon to go. We sleep on the plane tonight (well, if we manage any sleep that is) and run in London tomorrow afternoon when we get back.....I think that is going to be hard work! The forecast is for more hot weather :-(
Check back tomorrow to see how we get along.....and also check out how Kevin is doing on his fund raising on his Just Giving website.
Distance travelled today: 50 km
Total distance travelled: 12,450 km
Distance run by Kevin today: 42.2 km
Total distance run by Kevin: 253.2 km
No comments:
Post a Comment