Running - England and back

Well, not literally I guess.  I ran here, then in England, and now back here.  It was not my best showing for a business trip exercise regiment, nor was it my worst.  My daily runs were few and far between.  I blame jet lag, working long days, standing/walking all day, and just a little lazy for the sparseness of my runs.  But, the area I usually falter the most on my work travel that extends over weekends, the LONG run, I rocked.  Luckily there was a great area of trails right behind our hotel and I got Saturday off.

We went to bed at a decent hour on Friday night, up at 8am and headed out.  One of the guys traveling with me was due for a 12 miler so we sat out together.  He wanted to end up back at the hotel at 6 miles, but I ignored him and plowed into new territory until we hit the 5 mile mark then wound our way back to the hotel at mile 9 for a quick drink and for me an orange (my only substance of the day - I was ill-prepared at best since I didn't really think I'd get a long run in).  We did a quick 1-1/2 mile out and back to get him to 12 then I took off into some more new territory to finish up at 16.5.  It was great.  The weather (in the high 50's) was so nice compared to the heat of MO this summer.  The trails were gravel and windy with views of lakes, birds, horses, people walking dogs, and all kinds of interesting foliage.  After I finished up I showered and we headed out to find food - this was about a 3 mile walk so we were ravenous when we got there.  Luckily they were still serving food.  We had a pint while we waited (of Banks) which was very tasty and even a little filling.  Then she brought out the main courses - I had cajun chicken breast with salad and vegetables (which our waitress said was weird - b/c I didn't get a starch).  Regardless it was a dynamite meal.  Just what I needed, about 2 hours after I needed it, but it worked!

I returned to the US on Saturday afternoon and took Sunday off from jet lag, etc.  This morning I got up and ran with Brooke - was a great visit and enjoyable run.  We plan to do it again tomorrow.  I miss the trails, but it's still really nice to be home.