I set out on Sunday to run 11 miles, which was what my half marathon training plan was telling me to do.  The weather, 45 degrees and sunny, was pretty good for this time of year, especially considering it snowed Saturday morning.

I decided to run in Freeport which was not unrelated to my having stayed up late Friday night finishing Joan Benoit Samuelson’s Running Tide book.  The book is out of print, so I had to get a copy from the library.  It turned out to be a quick but compelling read.  She is a very inspirational woman and I very much enjoyed her book.    It also made me want to experience running on the same roads she had run while training for her marathon wins.    We have a rental house in Freeport (where we intend to live once our current home sells), and I needed to stop by to help our tenant anyway, so  it was an easy choice for my long run this week.   I also figured the inspiration would do me some good.

I parked in the village and headed south down this road.

The sun was shining and although I was initially cold, I warmed up after the first mile and was very comfortable after that.  I felt very good right from the start.  I didn’t go out fast, because I knew that there would be hills.  Oh so many hills.

It wasn’t a waterfront loop, but now and then I would get a peek of the ocean through the trees.

Oh and did you see that hill? That wasn’t a particularly bad one.

The run took me past the street that Joan Benoit Samuelson lives on. I looked down her road as I passed it by to see if maybe, just maybe she was out running today, but I did not see her.

I found myself thinking about her a lot on this run. I really didn’t know much about her before I read her book. I knew she lived in Freeport and I knew she won an Olympic marathon, and I knew that she started the Beach to Beacon 10K that I have run the last two years and will run again this year.

What I learned about her from her book was that she was tenacious. She always had a goal in mind and never gave up. She remained tough when faced with injuries. She had knee surgery less than 3 weeks before the Olympic trials, the same Olympics where she won the gold medal for the first women’s marathon in the Olympics.  She was not the favorite for that race, just as she was not the favorite for her first Boston Marathon win 5 years earlier.  She was a relative unknown when she first won Boston.

At about my 6 mile mark, I heard very fast footsteps coming up behind me.  I turned around to see who was coming (and of course for a moment foolishly thought to myself  “Could it be Joan?”).  It was a very fast man, who raised his arms in the air when he passed me and announced “Spring is Here!”.  I laughed and savored the moment of camaraderie and pure joy over the weather and running in it.

Right after he passed me as if I were standing still, I turned left onto a beautiful and hilly road.   I saw two horseback riders on the street, but no cars.  The hills weren’t horrible on this road, but it wasn’t flat.

After about a mile and a half, I turned left again onto a street called Pleasant Hill. The hill part of the name was right on…but I’m not so sure about the pleasant part.  I struggled a bit on Pleasant Hill, mostly because I stupidly thought I had gone mostly uphill so far, so Pleasant Hill must be mostly downhill from where I started on it.  No, not in fact the case.  I pushed through my discomfort and my tight hamstrings and kept running.

I stopped to walk once at about the 8.5 mile mark.  For some reason I looked back and I saw the fast man coming up on me again.  I felt ashamed that I was walking so I picked it up again.  He passed me and we exchanged pleasantries again.  I felt like a character in Go, Dog. Go! “Hello again.” “Hello.” “Goodbye again.” “Goodbye.” I did not ask him if he liked my hat, mostly because I wasn’t wearing one.

At the bottom of debate-ably pleasant hill, I turned right to complete the loop.   My garmin told me that my 11 mile loop was up right at the base of this hill and I was so glad.

It was a really decent run. I completed the 11 miles in 2:22, which for me is pretty good. I was consistent throughout the run and didn’t stop too often to take pictures, as I’m prone to do.   I felt blessed that I can run on the same roads that a gold medalist runs on.   And I felt grateful that spring is finally here.

Well, until I woke up to this today…d’oh!