About a month ago, one of my favorite running friends named Lori asked me if I was going to be in town on the weekend of May 4 to run a 50K. We go way back and I love running with her. I ran my first 50K with her and I ran my first 50-miler with her, both back in 2009. Back at that time, she was running 50-milers every other weekend and winning her age group and I was rolling out of bed and rolling through sub-3:10 marathons on back-to-back days.
We were having fun and running well. Good times, no doubt. But life has gotten in the for both of us in the past couple of years. I’ve documented the struggles we’ve had with our severely autistic 9-year-old son Jack. Lori finished up med school and is working a ton of hours doing her residency at a hospital in New York City. Training has taken a hit for both of us and we’re both a shadow of our 2009 selves. But when she asked me if I wanted to run the race, I had no hesitation. We hadn’t run together in years and I love catching up and spending time with friends. [Read more…]