losing a friend

When you lose your running buddy it's hard to stay on task. Candice had to move away, so I have been on my own and 6:30 am is very lonley with out a friend. I did a race in April and in May. But it's very difficult to practice with out accountability. You run slower and don't even realize it. The worst part is the mental aspect of feeling like the route is never ending and that you are going to die before you get there...all you can think about it how heavy your legs feel.
Thankfully God has sent me a race buddy, Jynne. We can't run together during the week, but she's been coming to the races with me. April's race would have been a TOTAL flop if it weren't for Jynne (she's wearing blue in the picture with Candice and I at the Reedy River Run). Learning to run these 5k races has come by trial and error...at the Furman 5k in April, I learned the very hard way the importance of being hydrated. I got to the last stretch of the race and stopped for a split second thinking I was going to gag, but Jynne looked back and said "keep mov'n we can see the finish line!" We finished thanks to Jynne's encouragement of staying with me and being my pace setter in 26:00 min.
For May we (Jynne, Britney, my dad, and me) ran the Lake Hartwell Dam Run...nice and flat!! Best race ever, minus the torrential down poor. It was the rainiest day we've had in months. As we got in the car we convinced ourselves that once we got into Georgia the rain would stop, but no it was just as hard. Thankfully during my run the 5k it had lightened to a sprinkle, but poor Jynne & Britney who ran the 10k were on mile 4 or 5 and the bottom dropped. I don't think that I have ever been that wet before, even in the swimming pool. It was a great race and hopefully next year it will be sunny and warm, so we can enjoy the flat course.