The trip wasn't long and we passed the time chatting with those around us. Before we knew it we were at Natick Common and it was time for us to get off the bus since it couldn't make it around a pair of parked cars. We all lined up and grabbed a quick team picture before heading out. There wasn't much warm up so I stretched a bit on my own and noticed that we had another bus which was just starting to unload so I guess it was a 2/3 of a team photo.
I headed out down rout 135 with about a 100 runners in blue and yellow singlets in front of me. We were running with the Liver Foundation team which got the memo about costumes which wasn't passed on to us. There were tutus and tiaras galore! There were even a couple of full costumes at the water stops. I started out a bit too fast just under 10 minute miles for 3 of the first 4 miles, as I blazed down the road and past Wellsley College without seeing it's strange "dude in his tighty whities" statue . I averaged just under 10 minutes for the first 6 miles which happen to be downhill which may explain some of the speed and after that i fell into a good rhythm right around 10:30 per mile.
Since we started out later than our normal 8AM meeting time by the time I took a right onto Comm Ave the road was clear of other runners. At this point we were at 7 miles at the start of the hills rather than our normal 4 leaving from the church but after all the hills work we've been doing over the past couple of weeks I still felt really good. I read an article on tips for running Boston and one of them was to try and stay consistent both up and down the hills which I tried to do and all in all I felt strong. The only mile split over 11 minutes was heartbreak hill at just 11:06.
Once up and over heartbreak hill it was down into Boston for the only time that I'll run this stretch of road. About a mile after BC there the course takes a right near my old apartment and then a quick left on to Beacon st. This stretch felt pretty long as all the big hills were done and none of the major landmarks are in view. It was a bit rough running here too since the sidewalks were busy and the streets were full. I stayed to the bike lane as the snow started to fall. A couple of miles later we were near the end of Beacon and the Citgo sign was in sight.
We followed the course for the last couple of miles down comm and onto Boylston as the snow thickened. Our ending point was past the finishline to the BSC just past it. I missed it on the first pass, but hooked back around and found it just after the second pass. After a quick stretch and shower it was off to the rattlesnake bar to meet up with the other team members for some appetizers and a few beers.
Big thanks again to Purvee, Deveen and Keeran for sponsoring today's run!
16.74 mi in 2:54:36 a 10:26 pace
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