Over the Hump

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
7:00PM (14 Miles)
Beacon to the Hills
Weather: 24F
Conditions: Dark
Gut Rating: 1
Perfect conditions for a marathon (ha!).
Pace: 6 mph

This run kicked cancer's a$s! Our group fourteen miler is scheduled for Sunday, but we won't be able to make it because we have our fundraiser at Salon Acote. Saturday, we're setting up a table at the Skating Club of Boston to register skaters for the Skate to Freeze Cancer 2! Go to http://www.skatetofreezecancer.blogspot.com for more information! We can't get our long run in on Friday because Kay has plans on Friday evening. Tonight, I'm going to a Celtics vs. Lakers game with Owen. SoOooOoo, we decided to get it in on Wednesday this week. And ... it ROCKED!

My blog followers might remember that my breaking point occurred last year during my 13-mile run, so this year we decided to skip the 13-miler altogether. We ran a solid 14.1 miles last night, and we ran at a great pace!

The Marathon and Running Programs Office would be so proud of us because we wore our reflective gear and carried plenty of fluids, fuel, T-passes, money, a debit card, extra gloves, and quarters in case we had to make a phone call. We carb loaded on Tuesday night and nibbled/hydrated all day long on Wednesday. We were ready! And, boy did we have fun!

Our run took us out past Boston College and down Beacon for many miles. I didn't really "discover" Beacon street until my 18-miler last year. I always take Beacon into the city, but it's wonderful following Beacon into the 'burbs because the road widens and we can run in the breakdown lane. We didn't have to worry about snow and ice either! We turned onto Chestnut for a little while, and we found it scarier running down Chestnut than along Beacon. We really watched out for traffic because the road was so narrow. Kay expressed a little bit of "road runner rage" when a woman was driving and talking on her cell phone without paying attention to her surroundings (us). We actually jumped into a snowbank at one point. Whenever a car neared, we yelled "We're here!"

We were THRILLED when we turned onto the hills. We walked for just a moment, so that we could refuel. I broke into my Chocolate Outrage flavored Gu (the only one I had in the house). I didn't think that I was going to like it very much, but it was delish! It was sort of like eating chocolate frosting in the middle of my run! It gave me such a huge shot of energy! When we got past the hills, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts because Kay had to pee for the second time during our run. Our first stop was at Pete's Coffee in Newton Center. The guy at Dunkin' Donuts was beyond nice! He filled our water bottles and cheered us on as we left the store! Thank you Dunkin' Donuts!! From there, it was an easy three miler home!

I'm so glad to have that run behind us. My body really seems to appreciate running every other day. I got a massage the other day, and that really helped too. I'm stretching and doing all the things that I didn't do at the start of my training last year. My legs aren't too sore this morning, which is a very good sign. We stretched on the kitchen floor for almost a half hour when we got home last night, and we called "the boyfriends" to let them know that we made it home. Owen called me before the run to wish me luck because he knew that this run would be mental challenge for me, and I was so excited to call him to say, "I did it!" Go DFMC!


FUN FACTS: (since October 20, 2008):
Total Miles Logged: 239.0
Total Time Running: 44:00:00
Total Time Crosstraining: 00:30:00

MONTHLY MILEAGE:
Total Miles Logged October: 9
Total Miles Logged November: 41.5
Total Miles Logged December: 61
Total Miles Logged January: 108.5 <<<< CHECK THAT OUT!!!!
Total Miles Logged February: 19