14 + 4 = 18

The plan was to do a solo 18 miler on Thursday night since I'm headed out of town for the Labor Day weekend. Nathan graciously volunteered to ride a bike alongside me. Since we didn't get started until about 6:45, I knew that we were going to quickly approach darkness...and we did. As I was running, I was formulating a plan for how to get this all done and wondering how late into the night I was really going to have to run. We ended up finding the 7-mile marker (there's no 7 on it, just a post, but timing was about right so I'm almost sure that its correct) which is right before the train tunnel. We ran through the train tunnel and then headed back. It was dusk at this point and the last 4 miles were in pitch black. At first, I think this makes you run faster, as you race to try to make it back before dark. But then it settles in that that is not possible and its a little disheartening. Also, the bug population decides to have a party right around dusk...the frogs also like to come out then. After we plunged into complete darkness they kind of went away, but that was after I had already had a full dinner of them, consumed both through my mouth and nose. Nathan decided the evening was "fun, except for the pain in the ass." I chugged a Gatorade back at the car and then we headed back to Ben Avon where Nathan prepped dinner and I did another 4 miles under the streetlights of town. The good thing about going late at night is that you get to go to bed when you're done!