Another Sunday, Another McAlpine Long Run

1 hour 23 mins. (12 miles)

My original plan for the long run today was to get after it pretty hard. But after a lethal combination of homemade margaritas and homemade ice cream (both prepared with the help of a little liquid nitrogen) at Matt's going away party last night, I wasn't so sure how I would feel today. The thick, damp, muggy air certainly didn't contribute positively either. The past few days have been a sobering harbinger of the summer weather to come, and I'm certainly dreading it. I decided to revise my plan and run based on feel.

Jordan and I met a small group of Queens athletes at Old Bell at 9. As per usual, I'd planned to stick with Jenna and Tanya for the duration, but as of last night Caitlin had expressed interest in joining us as well. We found her less than a mile from the start, as she'd parked at the main entrance and headed our way shortly thereafter. Our first few miles as a foursome were slow and conversational, with none of us feeling great or eager to push the pace. Shortly after reaching the Footlocker course we bumped into Billy Shue, another CRC member, and he fell into step with us as well. Our group was growing by the mile.

At this point something very disturbing happened. As I've mentioned in previously entries, the park is virtually overflowing with duck and geese families this time of year. We saw a group of about half a dozen little ducklings trailing their mother in the pond this morning. A few minutes later, on the final mile of the Footlocker course, we spotted an injured adult goose laying off to the side of the trail. His eyes were open and his chest was rising and falling rhythmically, but it was clear that something was very wrong. A few seconds later he staggered to his feet and attempted to cross the trail, and we discovered that his neck was broken. He more or less took his last breaths in front of us before collapsing on the other side of the trail for the last time. I've had several bizarre wildlife stories while on runs before, but this was certainly the saddest. Our group fell silent for the next few minutes.

By the time we reached the park's main entrance, Caitlin was ready to finish up her run. Billy spotted Jordan and co. a few minutes later and ran off to join them, leaving the Three Musketeers to finish up the run together...except that Jenna and Tanya weren't feeling great and I finally wanted to push the pace. I reasoned that since I hadn't run a workout the entire week (crappy 5k notwithstanding) and probably would only do a pre-race workout on Tuesday, I should hammer the rest of the long run. I dropped the pace considerably the final three miles, probably averaging around 6:15s. I ran into Jordan with 1.5 to go and he helped me stay strong and focused for the final few minutes. I may have finished looking like I'd just jumped into a swimming pool, but at least I felt good about the effort.