Running in Circles

It is the beginning of April and it is now less than a month away from the Lincoln Half-Marathon! So as expected, the long weekend runs are gettting...well...longer. This week I was scheduled to run 8 miles on Sunday. No problem, right?! WRONG.

First if I could just complain for a brief moment about my busy schedule:

DISCLAIMER: Erin Stoll understands that all events and scheduled appointments mentioned below were brought upon herself. However, she still feels the need to complain, whine, and request sympathy from her husband, family, co-workers, friends and others who are reading this blog. She is simply trying to gain support and understanding from the aforementioned groups listed above.

So Saturday my schedule was crazy--I had to squeeze in a hair appointment and eyebrow wax first thing in the morning before going to set up for the All About Omaha Torchlight Ball later that evening. And of course, in between setting up for the Ball and actually getting there, I had rehearsal. So Saturday was shot.

Then Sunday I of course wanted to sleep in...but alas...the 8 MILES. Sigh. So I get up and it turns out the weather man was right. It DID SNOW...and it was STILL SNOWING! My dear friend and running partner, Stacey called me diligently at 9:30 am--(even though she had been up WAY later than me the night before. She's so dedicated) For a brief, shining moment I thought she would say "Let's just forget it! Its snowing, and I'm tired. We deserve a day off!" But she said just the complete opposite:

"Let's do it! Yes, its snowing but its not sticking to the ground. We'll be fine!"

DAMN! But do I retreat? No. I say "Okay! Let's do it!"

But then.....poor Stacey, while walking to her car, nearly gets blown over by the 25 mile per hour winds that are whipping the snow around. (Weird...It doesn't look THAT bad from my living room window) She calls me back and says, "There is "NO WAY we are running outside...Plan B?"
So what's "Plan B", you ask? Plan B is this: Call Stacey's dad who is retired Air Force....have him meet us at the post office in Bellevue, drive us to Offut Air Force Base and drop us off at the Field house so we can run on the indoor track.
All this for 8 lousy miles? YES! And do I want to do it...HELL NO! But do I? YES!

So Mac drops us off, we put our stuff away and walk out to the track. "At least there are no hills" I think to myself. (A welcome change from the usual hilly route I endure.) Stacey thinks that once around the track is 2 miles. Boy were we wrong! It turns out one time around the track is .4 miles! So 5 times around is 2 miles....so yes...we need to run around that F***ing track 20 times! Ay yi yi.

But...it wasn't too bad. It was flat, it wasn't crowded, no snow or wind to slow us down...in fact, we kept a really great pace! We did about a 10 minute mile for the majority of the run, which is especially good for me!

So needless to say, after all my whining, complaining, tiredness and lack of motivation--I am SO glad we did the run despite all the hoops we had to jump through to get there. This is why I love my dear friend Stacey so much! She doesn't let me give up even though I want to and she keeps me motivated. Thanks Stacey for keeping me on track this week...literally!