Twenty in Metro Boston

Alright boys, I took some time between calls today (I mean really, what do you do with 10 minutes of down time) and created this 20 miler through Metro Boston. It encompasses parts of current training runs for me, a section of the Boston Marathon from Wellesley to BC (including Heartbreak Hill) and then a jaunt through Brighton to the Charles River and ends at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade -- if you want to push it to 21 you can head to Museum of Science. Here's the route, who's in? I'm targeting either 4/25 or 5/2. You can parts, all, or just say no. There are places to bail, and places to join. With a bit of coordination you could do the last 10, or only the first five... it could be a fun run.

Super Bowl Sunday 10K Race

Bennu and I ran together yesterday in a race along Boston's waterfront. I did the 10K and it was pretty fun. The course was flat and moderately fast though speed is a relative term right now for me. I'm not feeling too fast these days and between snow, ice and illness it's not that surprising. I'm trying to take a Zen approach and just run. Time, speed, fitness levels etc., will all come with repetition.

That said, I did look up the results for yesterday's run and here they are:

Overall: 172/723 Div: 46/125
Age: M30-39
Split: 25:05 Split Pace: 8:05
Finish: 00:48:48 Finish Split 7:52

That's pretty good for this time of year and given that I was sick for the better part of last week. I negative split the second half by a bunch and that's cool. I kicked nicely for the final .2 K and as I was approaching the finish line I heard a dude pounding the pavement behind me. Never wanting to be passed in the last mile, never mind in the final few steps I picked up my tempo and beat him by a step or so. I turned and looked at him and he was mad that I'd picked it up so much. I smiled and kept going. I know, not very Zen, but I haven't totally killed my competitive streak.

Workaday Run

Sometimes, sitting at work, unallocated, has its advantages. In a lull in my already lulling day, I stepped out for 40 minutes. I ran down Dartmouth, through Copley Square, to Storrow Drive and over a pedestrian bridge to the Charles River. I headed west along the Charles for 14 minutes or so. I made it past the BU sailing pavilion and turned around at a point where the scenery got sort of minimal -- close to Storrow, weedy trees to my right, just about across from the train yard under the Mass Pike.

The run was pretty uneventful until I decided to cross Storrow at the Kenmore on/off ramp area.
That was a little hairy, and I only caused one fender bender when somebody stopped short and the guy behind rammed him. Just kidding, I ran a straight out and back. The out was 20:11 and the back was 20:06, for a pretty even pace. The temp was nice, the pathways were quiet. One more meeting and homeward bound. My Body Glide is on its last legs, so I'll need to replace that.

Boston Lunch Run

I slipped out at mid-day with my work-running-friend for 36 minutes at lunch.
We went through Copley Sq. to the Charles and headed west along the river and back. Thankfully it was not too hot. The pace was slow, she's not in peak shape -- though she was a competitive rower before her first child. She kept saying, you can take off, etc. but it was good to run with a buddy and you stick with the folks you went out with, I say. Basically, no run is a bad run, and not every run needs to be a crushing workout. I'll go out tomorrow and go a bit quicker, as a tune-up for Thursday's race. I'll play the race by ear -- I think I'll go social rather than fast.