Andrew Schrauben

Several weeks ago my wife and I took one of our foster dogs, Bella, to the local vet to get her health certificate updated. The vet who checked out Bella was Dr. Bruce Langlois, owner of the Lowell Animal Hospital. He proclaimed Bella to be perfectly healthy, and then we chatted a bit about running.

See if you can follow this chain... Back in March I went for a run with Dean Karnazes, who was in town for a book signing thanks to a guy named Don Kern, the director of the Grand Rapids Marathon. One day I was reading Don's blog and was surprised to find an entry about Bruce! So I asked Bruce about Don during our visit with Bella, leading to Bruce inviting me to join him and some running buddies on their weekly Saturday morning run. Finally on July 19, I took him up on the offer.

There's a group of runners who show up to Townsend Park at 8:00am every Saturday to go for a run. However, Bruce and a friend of his named Dave like to get started early at 6:00am! So I dragged myself out of bed ready for a hard run because these two guys like to go FAST. At least, fast relative to me. They were planning on 8-minute miles for 13 miles! I wasn't sure I could do that but I figured I'd be close and might as well try.

Well, I can't run quite that fast. After about 4 miles I dropped a few yards behind them on a long hill, and each hill after that put them farther ahead. Luckily they were planning a stop around halfway at Bruce's lake cabin to grab a drink of water, so I caught up to them there. Five minutes later we were off again, and after a mile I just couldn't hang with them. They went on ahead and I eventually stumbled back to Townsend Park, but not that far behind them - I ran 8:30 miles! A good run for me.

Last Saturday I was back at Townsend Park, but this time at 7:00am. I ran for half an hour on the trails, then rested up and waited for the 8:00am crowd to show up since they run at a slower pace than Bruce and Dave. A little after 7:30am those two came striding into the parking lot, having finished their 13-miler at a 7:30 pace! As it turned out, however, only two guys showed up for the 8:00am group run - Andy and John. I was looking to run 12 miles, but Andy and John were planning on less. We started off together but after 3 miles Andy turned around (to run 6) and then after 4 miles John turned back (to finish with 8) while I pressed on alone.

The next few miles were miserable, not because of my fitness because I felt fine, but because of the hordes of deer files! I was getting swarmed and even bitten a few times. Then to make matters worse I started to run out of water! Even though it was early in the morning the temperature was already into the 80's with a forecast high in the mid 90's. I turned toward the main two-lane highway for two reasons: 1) I figured there would be fewer deer flies than on the tree-shrouded dirt roads, and 2) I needed to find somewhere to refill my empty water bottle.

As it happens, my aunt and uncle live along that main road but when I ran by they weren't home. No problem, though, because just another mile down the road is a convenience store where I was able to refill my water bottle. However, I had already dehydrated and was forced to walk soon after leaving the store. I walked about a mile and then started feeling better and managed to run the remaining 2 miles back to the park. Boy was it HOT that day! I drank three bottles of water over 15 total miles of running, which is twice what I normally drink.

Now I've gotta run - literally. I still need to go running this evening. Today was the hottest of the year, reaching 98 degrees a few hours ago and it's still in the lower 90's right now (7:30pm) so it'll be an interesting run. I'm planning to take one of my dogs with me, so I'll be carrying two water bottles - one for me, one for Haven, plus a little water bowl for her to drink from. Gotta keep her hydrated, too!