Our coaches decided to have us merge with the fall Team In Training group (they’re training for the PF Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll in Arizona) for today’s run since our San Antonio team is so small. We are tapering back our mileage and they are building up, thus we both had 12 miles on the schedule at the same time. The only real issue with today’s run was that it was back at Red Rock, home to the most brutal hills in Las Vegas!

My friends and I discussed during our Tuesday night run the possibility of “going rogue” and doing our own training run. We were concerned about tackling all these hills when we are so close to the marathon. We even sent an e-mail to our coaches asking if we could start running earlier and at a different location.

And that’s when the craziness started.

For some reason, everybody interpreted our request as “Jill’s knees can’t handle running even 2 short miles, she’s doomed.” Never mind the fact that changing the run would have worked better for Melinda to get to work or for Donna to catch a flight and avoiding the hills would have put less strain on ALL of our knees. But somehow, I became the martyr in all this. So after talking to my coach and talking to the coach of the PF Chang’s team (because he really is the guru when it comes to running, he’s got TONS of knowledge – I’m slightly envious of their team) multiple times I convinced them that I am fine and agreed to run Red Rock just so everybody would calm down.

So at 7:00 AM we met to do our run with the PF Chang’s group. Instead of doing the whole loop like we’ve done previously in the season, the plan was to run 6 miles in from the exit and then 6 miles back out. So while it isn’t quite as steep as going through the whole loop, it’s still got plenty of hill action.

It was weird to start so late in the morning. Earlier in the week I thought I was glad about the later start time, since I knew friends would be bringing kids by the night before for trick-or-treating and my Friday night would be a little different than a typical night before a long run. But come this morning, I kept waking up really early anticipating a long run. I guess I just like being awake at 4:00 AM on Saturdays! 😉

Then the PF Chang’s team started a half-hour late! I was getting frustrated, I just wanted to hit the road and start running. And after listening to their announcements and banter and a “Go Team!”, Jewels and I got to start running. (Melinda, Jim and Donna… our other partners in crime? They started early at 6:00 AM. I should have just done that.)

I’ve spent plenty of time whining about the time leading up to the run when the run itself wasn’t that exciting. Yes, it was hard because these hills are never easy (unless you’re a gazelle). Yes, we felt a little off due to the night before (mine from eating more candy than I should and Jewels from partying). But we got in there and did our run. At the conclusion we were very glad that we had completed our run. We were the first ones back and decided to not stick around and wait for the rest of the PF Chang’s team to filter in. Our San Antonio team was all back, so we split.

It’s hard to believe that we only have one more group run before the big event. How did this summer go by so quickly?