The Long Run

This past Saturday the Miles for Miracles team gathered early in the shadow of (not in) Boston College's Alumni Stadium for our longest run yet, 21 miles from Hopkinton back to (not in) BC.

I arrived just around 7 for our 7:30 departure and met up with my coach Jeff to head to the buses. It was a bit cool so i got on early as we waited for others to arrive.  Just about 7:40 we were off and as we discussed the race with others on the team, Jeff told us one of the buses broke down so we would be waiting at the start until they arrived.

About 30 minutes later we arrived at the start which was packed with cars and buses unloading runners.  Electronic billboards warned of "Runners in Road", police were directing traffic and people were waiting in line for port-a-potties.  It seemed like race day already!  After about a half hour our last bus arrived to a rousing ovation along with shouts of "What took you so long?".  After a couple of team pictures and some stretching we were off.

Where's Waldo blue and orange style

As I've been profiling the course I knew the first mile was a pretty steep downhill but actually running it was a bit of a shock because it is REALLY downhill before it goes back uphill a little bit which prompted one of my teammates to quip "downhill my ass" to a chuckle from those around us.

The road was packed with runners from all different charities forcing drivers to the center line and police to set up at major intersections to help with the flow of traffic and runners.  Even with this I saw some long lines of traffic, but not everyone minded.  Along the route various people had set up on porches and front lawns cheering on the runners as they would in just over 3 weeks time.   Also along the route were water and food stations for all the various charities.  Even though they all had a different name on them they were all very open to helping any runner no matter what singlet you were wearing.

Despite the hands to their ears these are runners not secret service

The course was hard, but it was nice to be running some new scenery and about mile 10 I felt a bit dehydrated. T here weren't many water stations in the 8-12 miles and I didn't bring any water so I was hurting a bit but once we hit Wellsley College there was a MFM water stop where I grabbed a couple of cups of water and some gummy worms which really helped.

Marathon Statue

As we made our way past the college and into Wellesley proper we returned to familiar running areas and I felt pretty comfortable with what was coming the course.  we passed St. Pauls' the Whole Foods and then when we got to the park afterwards there was a giant setup from Saucony.  They were giving out water, Gatorade and food.  It was a very nice gesture to everyone out there.
My calf was a bit sore but really started to hurt as I made my way down the big hill towards 95.  I took it easy but the extra pressure of the downhill made it a bit uncomfortable, luckily once I got back on flatter ground it went back to just being a bit sore.

Out on the lower part of route 16 the police had closed off one of the lanes to accommodate the runners making it much easier to handle the number of runners.  I made my way down the street and turned right at the firehouse to start the hills of Newton.  Right at the start of the first hill was a MfM water stop which was very nice.  After a quick drink I started up but had to walk for a bit once I was about half way up the hill, but after a quick rest I was back to running.  I never really noticed it before but after that hill it's mostly flat from there to the start of heartbreak hill so I made good time between the two.  Again about half way up heartbreak hill I had so walk again but it was only for a short time and before I knew it I was up and over and at the end of 21 miles with Julie there to cheer me on.

It was the longest training I'd done but it was under 4 hours making the 5 hour goal I set for myself very attainable.  See you all at the finish!

21.07 miles in 3:47:51 a 10:45 pace

Race Report: Rock N Roll USA Half Marathon

For the third year in a row (every year they've had it) Julie and I headed down to Washington D.C. to run the Rock n. Roll USA half Marathon.

The fun started the Tuesday before the half when Julie asked when we flew back on Sunday.  Checking my e-mail and a couple of airline websites it appeared we didn't have a flight home, so after a quick search we booked some return tickets to Boston that luckily didn't cost and arm and a leg.

Friday morning rolled around and we made our way over to Logan for the short flight to DCA where we dropped off our bags and headed to the expo.  The expo had a bit of a different feel this year as they moved the bib, bag and shirt pick up down stairs to leave more room upstairs for the vendors, even so it didn't feel as packed with vendors as other expos have in the past.

After the expo we headed down to the mall to see some of the sites.  Last year we went to the national gallery so this year we changed it up and went to the Smithsonian Castle.  The castle acts as a visitors center for all the Smithsonian sites.  It has small exhibits from each of them so it's great for trying to figure out which museum you should go to if you're torn between a couple.  After checking out their collection we wondered around the mall a bit when a sign advertising an underwater photography exhibit at the Museum of Natural History caught Julie's eye.

The first floor of the museum held a massive oceans exhibit featuring everything from the aforementioned underwater photography, to a fossilized great white skull to a preserved giant squid.  We spent some time touring the first floor and getting my picture taken in the sharks mouth before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

We met up with Julie's brother and his wife, and one of my old friends Kelly at RFD which has quite the beer selection.  Our night before meal was healthy to say the least.  Fried mac n' cheese for an appetizer, burgers, tatter tots and beers.  RFD has a healthy beer selection so finding something new each round wasn't difficult.  Great beers and good people it was a fun night to catch up!

Race day started with a 4 AM wake up call.  The training plan called for 19 miles but the race was only 13.1 so I got up early and after waiting for my watch to finally find a signal I made my way down to the mall to get in 6 miles.  I made my way down past the Washington and WW II Monuments to the Lincoln Memorial.  Being so early no one was around, I was hoping to see some secret meeting like two cold-war era spies exchanging intelligence but all I saw was a red fox on the hunt.  Who knew that there were foxes on the national mall?  I turned around and made my way back up the mall to the capital before making my way back to the hotel.  6 miles done in just over an hour.

After a nice rest I got decked out in my Miles for Miracles gear and Julie and I headed down to the starting line where we met up with Lena and her boyfriend Christian.  We timed it perfectly and the first corral was just getting ready to take off when we arrived.  We sat in the corral chit chatting until it was our turn to go.

As we started I tried to maintain my 10:30ish pace that I had been doing on my long runs and found it faster than most of the people who were in the corral that should be finishing in 2 hours.  The race headed down along the mall before popping over to Arlington, Va for a quick turnaround before coming back over in to DC.  As we made our way over the bridge there was one lady with a sign who kept repeating "Welcome to Arlington".  If she doesn't work for the chamber of commerce they should hire her right way.

Once back over the river the course heads north along the Potomac to Rock Creek park.  This rural part of DC isn't on the normal tourists itinerary but it should be.  A little bit of the woods in the big city.  As the Rock Creek portion of the race comes to and end the runners are greeted by a large hill that I remember from last year.  As most competitors groaned and on lookers shouted encouragement I steadily made my way up the hill finding that running nothing but hills on Saturdays for three months really pays off on race day!

From the top of the hill the course starts to give back some of its elevation gain as it makes its way through the Adams Morgan part of the city and over to Howard University where it starts to head back south and offers a great view of the capitol.

Just short of Union Station the course turns left and heads into a residential area before heading to the stadium for the finish. Here about mile 12 I took a quick pit stop to grab a beer some spectators were offering and tell them about the Big Man Run I'll be doing in June.  After the quick stop it was off to the finish!

The Head and the Heart Perform

After meeting up with Julie at the finish we headed back to the hotel to shower up and grab some dinner at Capitol City Brewery.  We were really hungry by the time we got there so we ordered some nachos which were not needed as all orders come with giant soft pretzels, but in the end my burger was a bit smaller than anticipated so it all worked out.  After lunch it was back to the mall to take in some of the warm spring air.

As we sat along the mall basking in the sunlight I checked my e-mail and saw that I had received a notice of my itinerary from Expedia.  Apparently I did book a flight home, so we headed back to the hotel to figure out which flight we should take before heading back to Adams Morgan for dinner and margaritas!

Sunday we slept in before heading over to Old Ebitt grill for lunch with Lena, Christian and another old friend Jamie.  Before heading over there we walked around the White House taking some pictures and seeing the sights.  The brunch menu had traditional St. Patrick's day items along with a bag piper which turned out to be a bad idea in such a small area.  After some more good food and fun people it was time to head back to Boston on a flight I didn't know I had.

As we left DC we got another great view of the city!

Splits

Mileage	Time	Segment Pace	Overall Page
5K	33:06	10:41	10:41
10K	1:07:50	11:13	10:56
10MI	1:48:33	10:59	10:51
13.1MI	2:21:32	10:38	10:48

Overall: 10,653 out of 16,758  Division: 989 out of 1,259 Gender: 4,846 out of 6,441

2.21.13 Cross Training

After taking the entire week off of running since the team 17 miler as I fought off a cold but I made it back to the gym today for a spin class.

Today's music was one hit wonders so we were rocking out to White Town, Right Said Fred and Chumbawama just to name a few.  We started off slow for the warm up before moving into building hills.  From there we seemed alternate with pushes and then finally sprints set to Vanilla Ice.

I pushed myself a bit harder than I normally would since I hadn't run at all this week and since this week's run is flat and short (only 12 miles).

14.3 miles in 49:54 a 17.19 MPH pace

2.15.13 Miles for Miracles Team Long Run

Saturday's team long run with the Miles for Miracles team was the first of two dress rehearsals for the big race.  Julie dropped me off at the Riverside T stop just before 9:30 where I was meeting up with the rest of the team.  I dropped off my bag (with clothes for after the run) with the team and checked in before jumping on the second bus out to Natick.

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

Cross-Training 1.24.13

Friday morning I set the alarm extra early to make sure I could get the whole 60 minutes of cross training in today.  My plans we foiled by a slap to the snooze button, but I was up and out earlier than normal.  A quick (because it was freaking cold out and I my car wasn't very war) drive over to BSC and I claimed a spot in my spin class.

Even with the snooze I was early so I stretched and started in with a light bike ride.  The class started to fill in around me and after one quick warm-up song we were off in earnest.  Amanda pushed us today starting off with a lot of jumps (which I've been skipping to try and save my legs for Saturday's group long run) and some up hill sprints.  I pushed myself harder than last week but not 100%, even still my legs were pretty tired by the end, tired but not sore.  All in all I just missed the 60 minute mark.

15.6 mi in 54:15 a 17.25 MPH pace

Pace Run 1.23.14

With temps in the single digits and wind chills in the negative teens I decided I was going to do my pace run inside today.  I grabbed my gear and headed out to the gym.

At 5:15 about a quarter of the treadmills were already taken so I grabbed on up front and started off with a warm up mile at 10:49.  Since they're programmed to stop after 60 minutes I stopped my workout and restarted it rather than having to stop half way through my pace run.  I got it back up to speed and by the end of my first mile I think I had finally thawed out.  My pace at a 1.5% incline was a little slower than what I had been running outside but I was able to keep all of my miles under 10 minutes (9:55, 9:54, 9:53, 9;54, 9:51, 9:45) but failed to keep my speed getting progressively better due to a mental error more than a physical limitation.

Once my 6 miles were up I only had about a minute before my 60 minutes were up and the treadmill went into cool down mode for another 5 minutes.  I added on another 0.36 miles in cool down and then headed out to start the day.

7.36 mi in 1:45:49 a 10:18 pace

Boring Days of Training 1.19-1.21.14

Sunday through Tuesdays on my training plan have been pretty standard, cross-train, easy, intervals.

This Sunday we were heading up to meet some friends for brunch as Massa on the Woburn line.  Our 10:30 reservation meant that we weren't able to do spin at 9:30 so I headed to BSC right when it opened and headed to one of the stationary bikes.  I did 35 minutes there not pushing myself really hard as I was still a bit drained from the run on Saturday.  After my 14 plus miles there (not sure why I only wrote down 14) I headed over for some weightlifting and core work.  I’m glad I cut it a bit short because when I walked out it was snowing again!  I showered up and we headed to Massa (http://www.masarestaurant.com/) which was a wonderful brunch with my “Ultimate Breakfast Burrito” and reasonably priced too!  If you've never been before I suggest you check it out.

 14+ miles biked in 35:00 a 24.0+ MPH pace

Monday was pretty boring if I'm being honest.  4 easy miles on the Waverly Ave hill.  I had to get up extra early to finish my run in time to take Julie to the airport (again) but I somehow still managed to wake before my 4AM alarm.  

I headed out for a warm up lap around my neighborhood before tackling the up and down twice.  I might need to change this route up heading up and down Belmont street, for a change in scenery, but I'm hesitant since Waverly is wider and has less traffic.

3.98 easy mi in 45:53 an 11:33 pace

Tuesday I woke up to bitter cold.  I set up an interval workout on Runkeeper, geared up and drove down to the river.  I found some street parking and then wondered if the pending snow would mean I would get towed faster. Only time would tell as I locked up Julie's car and headed out.  I decided to go with the river as the path on the southern side is plowed where as the track I knew was covered with snow.  

As I headed out I was cold and my Audible app wouldn't work properly.  Trying to play with the iPhone and run resulted in some frozen fingers but I finally got it working.  I headed out towards Brighton fighting the wind.  After a slow-ish warm up mile at 10:24 I headed into my first half mile interval at blistering 4:38 followed by another recovery at 5:18.  I plowed through another fast interval at 4:42 but I was really freaking cold my hands had warmed up by my core felt really cool.  Also when the really cold weather comes my knee bothers me.  The combination of the knee and cold along with the fear of getting Julie's car towed made me bail on the rest of the work out, but I did find a place to park my car for Thursday!  I did another 0.8 miles just under 10 minute miles and headed to the car.  I'll have to try and make up some mileage on Thursday!

3.36 mi in 33:32 a 9:59 pace

Long Run 1.18.14

Saturday was another miles for miracles group run out in Wellesley.  Before we started the coaches told us this was the largest group run in our history.  We had a very personal and moving dedication and then without a clinic we warmed up shortly after 8 and headed out for our run. People were going everywhere from 6 to 15 miles, and I signed up for 13.  As we made our way down route 16 the skies were ominous and threatening rain and snow.  

Shortly after starting up I fell I with my pace pal, Mary and we headed out just under 10 minute miles aided by the downhill trajectory.  About a half mile in it stated to sleet which lasted until mile 2 was done and we were at our first water stop.  

Despite the cool weather and precipitation I was sweating pretty good at this point, so while grabbing some water I took off my slight sweatshirt. With the sleet sopping I thought I would be good but it didn't take long for me to cool down.  I gutted my way through the next two miles thinking I would warm up but it didn't happen so while we waited for the light at the corner of comm ave I out it back on a bit too late.

Making the turn on to comm ave we started the hills of Newton. We make good progress at about a 10:20 pace fighting up the hills. Since we started promptly at 8 we didn't start hitting a lot of other charity runners until these hills. Floods of runners were making their way past us dreading downhill (as we had done) only to go back up to finish their runs (as we will).  I've already started to notice the same people week to week.

We hit mile 5 and the next water stop where I grabbed some water and downed a Gu.  Back on the course we started to hit new areas for me after just a half mile.  We made our way through Newton commons and up and down some more hills and arrived at the start of heartbreak hill marked by Heartbreak running store on the corner.  Heartbreak will have two wait two more weeks (we're running by the river next week) as we turned around and made out way back.  As we did we got hit in the face by a wind that I swear wasn't there when we were running the other way.  

As we made our way down the hills we hit the water stop again but because of all the people this week we had run out of cups so we had to rinse and re-use the two ones left.  Glad took my vitamin C this morning!  A mile down the road I faced a decision, keep running or turn off and pee at the firehouse (they graciously open their doors to runners this time of year).  I debated and debated and finally decided to go in, which turned out to be the best decision of the day since when I arrived back at the church I was informed that the toilet was clogged. Big props to the coaches for wet vac-ing up the exes water so we're allowed back!

After my break I headed back up 16 and was caught by one of ours coaches Jeff who chatted with me for a while. When I looked at my watch I was going well under 10 minute miles without knowing it.  It's nice to get my mind off running but was a bit worried with the hill still to come. At the start of the hill back up Jeff went ahead to check on some others and I started my trudge up. My pace was about 11 minutes per mile which I would take and I made it non-stop to the water.  

At the water break I grabbed a quick cup (they still had some here) of Gatorade and started back out with Mary again who was there when I arrived.   By this time the rain had picked up and just a giant pain.  We kept a sub 10 minute pace the last two miles and then sprinted the last tenth of a mile or so.  

Back at the church I stretched out and changed into some dry clothes before chatting up some of hone other runners and heading off to Whole Foods.  There were a couple of fig glazed sea bass steaks with my name on them!

13.1 mi in 2:11:32 a 10:02 pace

Training 1.16 & 1.17 Tempro Run and Cross-Training

Work was pretty busy yesterday so I didn't get a chance to do a quick recap of my training so here's a 2 for 1 special.

Thursday morning I rose with the goal of a 4.5 mile tempo run.  I headed out for a quick once around the neighborhood before I headed down towards the center of town to complete my warm up mile.  The first mile I held back warming up and getting ready for my pace run.  Just before the track I hit 1 mile and picked up the pace.  I headed down past the school and through the square keeping on the north side of the Charles.

The first mile was good at a 9:40 pace, but the lighting on this side left something to be desired once you move off the square.  A little more than halfway through mile two there is a pretty nice sized hill which ate up a little bit of time but not too bad pushing my time to 9:52 for the mile.  Normally I run by the river but there was no way I was attempting that narrow trail (which I know at one point has a tree over it) in the dark.  My plan was to turn around at mile 3.5 and go back the way I came, but I was close to the bridge that I could use to get to the south bank of the river so I went a bit father and crossed over.  This side it lighted much better and is much flatter the whole way.  Running along this side finished mile 3 (9:44) and 4 (9:39).  Just after mile 4 I found myself at my daily bus stop waiting for the light to change.  A quick cross and through the square I picked it up for the last 200 yards or so to bring the final half mile down to 4:34.  Overall the 4.5 mile pace run was 43:27 or a 9:39 pace, much faster than I hope to run on race day.

Out of breath but with my legs feeling pretty good I started my cool down heading down route 20 giving a walker with two big dogs a wide birth as they barked and strained at their leashes.  I finished up with a slow jog up Waverly Ave finishing on a nice hill.

6.5 mi in 1:05:31 a 10:05 pace

Friday morning Julie and I headed over to the BSC for a spin class with our favorite instructor.  Today she was having a class right up my alley, 90's music!  I didn't want to push myself as hard as I had been because my legs were trashed after the 11 mile run last week, and I wanted to have something in the tank to do some cross training and weight lifting on Sunday.

I started a little early trying to get to the 60 minutes of cross training per the schedule.  Throughout the class I didn't turn the resistance up to much but tried to keep my cadence around 85 to make up for it.  It seemed to work as my heart rate was above 130 when I was done, but my legs didn't feel nearly as sore as they had in the past.

The 90's music was a good mix from the entire decade.  At one point the class got to choose between Ace of Base and No Doubt, and for some strange reason only me and one other lady had the good taste to select No Doubt.  Unfortunately there was no Puffy Daddy and the Family, but thankfully the set list only included on boy band song, before throwing in "Baby Got Back" near the end to get the motivation really going (or would that message demotivate people, I'm not sure).

15.85 mi in 50:30 an average speed of 18.83 MPH

Interval Training 1.14.14

Tuesday morning was another nice (relatively) warm morning.  After a short warm-up I headed back to the track from some speed work doing half mile intervals 5 times. The guide says that I should be doing them at my goal time in minutes (just moving the hours into minutes and minutes into seconds), so in my case for 5 hours I should be doing my half mile intervals in 5 minutes but as always I have to do better than that.

The weather was nice as I did just over a mile warm up around the neighborhood before heading down to the track.  The track isn't the most interesting place so I again decided to listen to my audio book starting in on book two of the Black Flagged series by Stephen Konkoly. 

The intervals started out good with each interval being around 15 seconds ahead of pace, and I was feeling good during the recoveries. The last interval was a killer thought and really had to struggle to make it under pace.  After a light jog back home it was time for some breakfast!

Interval	Milage	Time	Pace
Warm Up	1.09	11:31	10:35
Fast 1	0.52	4:46	9:10
Recovery	0.47	5:00	10:38
Fast 2	0.52	4:47	9:16
Recovery	0.50	5:17	10:28
Fast 3	0.51	4:43	9:11
Recovery	0.50	5:22	10:43
Fast 4	0.51	4:45	9:19
Recovery	0.51	5:26	10:42
Fast 5	0.51	4:53	9:38
Cool Down	0.86	9:53	11:32
Overall	6.50	1:06:23	10:13

Monday Recovery Run 1.13.14

"Ouch" is all I have to say.  After taking Sunday off because I felt stiff and sore Monday morning came and I felt only moderately better but headed out on a slow recovery run.   I headed out with the intention of just going to the track so I didn't take my lighted visor, but decided to take a lap around the neighborhood first.  About half way around the loop I realized my mistake as I had very little light and needed to run in the road to avoid tripping like I did last week.  After that thankfully uneventful loop I headed down to the track.  I picked the track so I could zone out and not worry about uneven footing or cars and just zone out and listen to my mediocre book "The deep zone".  It's kind of boring in my humble opinion, but it's starting to pick up for the last 10%.

It was about 32 degrees so I thought I would be fine in shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt. which normally I would be, but since this was an easy run I wasn't pushing myself very hard I ended up warming up as I was used to.  As a result it was a cold run!

The track was pretty uneventful, but reminded me of a spring or fall day as the one guy who runs intervals the other way and the group of ladies doing some sort of boot camp training were both there while I thought I would have the track all to myself.  I was able to keep my pace around 11:20 the whole time with each mile getting a bit slower as I tried not to push myself.

A couple of laps later I was at 3.5 miles and headed home along Orchard where I again cursed myself for not wearing a light and had to step carefully along the sidewalk.  Thankfully I made it to the end of my 4 miles without incident and headed home where some farmers market Sausage waited to be cooked for breakfast!

4 mi in 45:20 an 11:20 pace

Saturday Long run 1.11.14

Saturday was about as good weather for training as anyone could ask for our  Boston Children's group training run.  High in the low 40's at the start warming up to the mid 50's with a chance of rain.  I arrived at St. Paul's church which was our base for today about quarter to 8 and stretched while we waited for our latest clinic on gels and hydration to start.  After a 45 minute presentation we warmed up and headed out the door.

We started off at about mile 13.5 of the course and immediately started on a gradual uphill until just before mile 2 and our first water stop.  By this time I had fallen into a good 10 minute mile pace (just less to allow for some time for water stops) with Lauren and Mary who I had met on two previous runs.  Just before and after the water stop the road went on a deep dive dropping 136 feet in 0.65 miles to the lowest part of the race course.  The course then starts back up hill for the next 0.6 miles as you go through Wesley peaking just after you cross 128 where it slowly descends 50 feet over the next mile to Comm ave.  At the firehouse we took a right starting to tackle the hills of Newton (which ultimately end in Heartbreak Hill).

The course was packed with runners from different charities which we had been passing all morning coming the other way (I guess we got a late start because of our clinics), and it was very evident here on Comm ave as many of the charities (including ours) had a water stops set up on the carriage road that runs parallel to Comm.

Just before a mile on to Comm Ave. the route peaked at 166 feet which is a net increase of about 30 feet from where we started but represented about a 130 foot climb from the low point of our run.  I was pretty tired at this point but right at my 10 minute mile pace.  At mile 5 there was another water stop but we passed on it as we were just going another half mile and then turning around so we would hit it on the way back.  Another half mile and we hit Lowell Street which was our turn around for today, and we started making our way back.  When we hit the water we stopped this time taking about a minute to get some water and down a Gu before hitting the road again on the decline.

You would think that because we're going net downhill now that we would be faster but by this time my legs were trashed and it was all I could do to hang on to the ladies and maintain a 10:20ish pace before hitting the big hill (I think our Coach Jeff named it Mildred...he says the jokes get better as the mileage goes up).  As much as I wanted to walk up the hill I knew I needed to push myself in training to be better on race day so I continued my slow trot up to the water stop just before the crest of the hill.  A little water and Gatorade and we're off again with a pretty good pace of just over 10 minute miles for the next mile and a half.  After waiting for a light to change about a third of a mile from the church we put it into high gear until the end pushing the last mile down to about a 9:30 minute mile.

I headed around back to do some lunges and squats before heading inside to stretch and change.  Inside I ended up talking to a group from last year which were all trying to do X number of marathons before they turned 25 or 30 (which made me feel kind of old) but it was great to hear how much they enjoyed the team and wanted to run again.  On the way home I hit Whole Foods to get some food for the week but the fatigue was settling in and I forgot my wallet in the car.  After running out I was able to pick up a few items and headed home for a big lunch!

11 mi in 1:52:58 a 10:14 pace

14 Weeks until the Boston Marathon!!!