Over the river....and through the weeds

I took up running with a buddy of mine down the street. We've been prepping for the Top of Utah Marathon and lately i've been wondering why I am going through all this torturous training. 2 weeks ago, we opted to go south on a favorite trail of ours. It's a popular biking/running paved trail that goes for miles and miles. The ultimate goal is to connect the major cities along the river and have over 100 miles of trail. We discovered that our trail south wasn't as well developed as we thought.
2 miles into the trail, it disappeared and we were running onto gravel, then weeds, then the street. We kept going then ran into a marker for the trail continuation. A mile after that, the trail became part of the golf course, then it disappeared. All in all the 14 mile run included a golf course, a gravel path, paved trail, pavement through a neighborhood and weeds as high as my waist. I'm still pulling stickers out of my shoes.

So, why am I putting myself through all of this just so I can say I've run a marathon? I've obviously lost a few major brain cells along the way somewhere because the thought of running 26.2 miles is daunting. Tomorrow calls for a 16 mile trail run with small hills...small hills! I run hills every day...in my area there are no other choices and the group run organizer chose hills? Glutton for punishment.

This morning as my friend and I are pounding out a quick 4 miles, he starts telling me about hotel options for the race in September. He then goes on to tell me that he's reserved two rooms for us...i'm like, what the #$#$@@! He just laughs at me because he knows I'll do the race, it's the mid training slump I go through. Now that I have a hotel room, I guess I get to suck it up and do the race...dang!

Hey, the good news lately is that the Runner's Lounge sent out an e-mail asking for volunteers to test some Wright Socks and blog about them. Free stuff? Sign me up! I look forward to posting my reviews coming up in August.

I'll have a 16 mile run recap after the weekend is up and I'm able to walk again. Oh, the wife has painting scheduled for tomorrow post run. Nothing like standing on a ladder with a paint roller after a 16 mile run... have a great weekend everyone.