Running buddy, the 2010 edition

Today the rain stopped for a bit and the sun peeked through and we got hopeful. Then, sun still shining, it began raining again. Fiona decided it would be a lovely time for a run. We haven't done any trail running together since last summer. I was busy trying to finish typing up the programme for the orchestra concert tomorrow but a break for a run in the sun and rain seemed like a great idea.

Last year Fiona was six years old and forty pounds. She was Little Miss Stamina the Persistent. But she wasn't fast. Most of her runs were at a pace of almost 10 minutes per kilometre. I enjoyed running with her because she was so cheerful and talkative and because the slow pace and the repetitiveness of the run encouraged me to really immerse myself in the moment with her.

This year she's seven years old and has put on about four pounds and added about 7 centimetres to her height. We ran our same 2 km spur for old times' sake. I took my Garmin along at her request and I ran barefoot beside her. Recently I've got my barefoot mileage up to 2 km on the road, and I figured that I could manage 2 km on the trail if I did it slowly. It turns out that Fiona runs about as fast now as I can run on the trail in my tender tootsies. Her 10-minute kilometres from last year were run at a pace of 7:48/km today -- and she still talked the whole way! I normally run about 6 minute kilometres on the trails, but in bare feet over rocks and roots I'm a lot slower, so her pace was perfect. We are a well-matched pair.