an all-night run becomes a 10-miler

Last night I had planned to run all night.  The plan was to get to a local nature preserve (Forest Glen) before they close the gates (8pm) and stay all night until they open them (8am).  They allow camping, so I would "camp."  Actually, I would try to run all night, but as a fall back I would bring my camping gear and crash if I needed to stop.  I did, after all, just run the Ice Age 50M last weekend.

I had to be at the ranger's station before 7 to register and be allowed to stay overnight.  As I was preparing to leave my daughter crawled into my arms and put her head on my shoulder.  I wasn't leaving anytime soon.  Every time I made for the door she started saying "no, no, no" with her arms outstretched, as if asking for a hug.  I'd pick her up and she'd put her head on my shoulder.  Our girl knew I was planning to be gone for a while and she wasn't having it.

Plan B: After she goes to bed I'll leave.  It'll be too late for Forest Glen (they'll be closed), so I'll just run all night at Clinton Lake, another great spot for trail running.  CL has no gates, so I'd get to leave when I wanted.  Well, I was kind of looking forward to the whole camping part as extra motivation to stay on my feet, since I'd be stuck at the park anyway.  Oh well, family's first.

I finally got to the trails at a little after 10pm.  The trail at CL is just a 10-mile loop around part of the lake.  As I descended the first of many short hills I noticed that my knees were still a little tender from last weekend.  I'd take it easy on the downs.  A few miles in I began to wonder where my groove was.  Usually it takes a couple miles to warm up (sometimes more than other times) but I just wasn't feeling it.  My hips were still tight from last weekend, too.  My body seemed to be sending the message "you don't need this long run; what you really need is to let me recover."  So I finished the loop and went home to a warm bed.