The Big 5-0

As promised I helped "Coach K," otherwise known as Kathryn, with a leg of her 50 mile trek for her 50th birthday today. Her friend Cindy was taking care of transporting everyone all over the "course," (which surely was EVERY street in this county) as well as phoning us to let us know when we were "up" for service. She very courteously called to let me know that Kathryn was running a bit behind for my leg. So I postponed heading out. Heaven knows I would have liked to help her with as much of the 50 as possible... but I AM supposed to be resting this month... and I do have this horrendous head cold and mouth soreness (excuses, excuses).

At last I got my phonecall. "She's just turned onto Mills Park Road!" I flew over there. I arrived just in time. Cindy asked if I wanted to speak for a "documentary" of the day. She was going to make a DVD for Coach K. Well of course I'll speak! So I did. I proclaimed just how amazing this woman IS, not only running 50 but also for being sooooooo involved in our running community. Just as soon as I finished running my mouth, I headed for the main road and was intercepted by a group that was never smaller than five people. Kathryn looked GREAT. Everyone commented the entire time that I was with her just how good her mental state was, on top of her physical one. She was ON A MISSION.

This actually turned out to be quite the toughie for me. It really was a 5.8 mile walk that I did, not a run. Guess what: walking is HARD! Seriously. Especially since it was 36 degrees and extremely windy out there. By the time I got there, she had been going strong for NINE HOURS. Holy cow. She started at midnight -- the second she turned 50.

I wore the exact same outfit as I did to the Jingle Bell 5K (washed, of course) and I just FROZE. Note to self: walking does not keep me nearly as warm as running. We kept about a 15 minutes-per-mile pace. I found that I had to run (albeit slowly) to keep up with Miss Super Walker, aka Kathryn.

Kathryn's official coach for this trek was G, the director of the Little Rock Marathon. She watched over Kathryn with amazing care, constantly offering her tablets, water, food, etc. She often had to gently remind her that it was high time she had some of whatever she was scheduled for!

After 5.8 miles I left the group. I kind of wanted to go back for the big finish, but Chasen and I needed to coordinate some car repair/carpool stuff... so I have been carless all afternoon. It has worked out... I have napped for about 4 hours!