WEEK 41: 28 miles and Baystate HM

Monday off; Cold Whirlpool for my aching feet!
Tuesday AM: lift/core; AM2: 3 mile roads; still kinda beat up, but seems like it'll all pass by sunday! Fingers crossed!

Wednesday AM: random strength/core;  AM2: 5 miles road - (Baker -Eastern-bikepath-water-eastern-optical-baker) Good route. No ITband pain- just a hint of it here and there. 

Thursday 7 mi roads - wesport to fosgate and back. Just need to rest a couple days I think.

Friday off, rest my aching feet!
Saturday off

Sunday
BAYSTATE HALF MARATHON: 1:58 official time- 1:56 my watch because I stopped it when I waited on the bridge to see if I could see Greg in the marathon

WEEK SUMMARY

Well, not exactly a good week of miles or a good race, but not all is lost.  I admit I was still very beat up from the trail race and only ran Baystate because I had registered weeks ago.  At 4:30AM (not early enough) I drove to Lowell, MA with Greg, Justin, and George and it was fun to hear them talk pre-race strategy.  I felt good running around while getting our numbers and shirts (cool shirts) and thought maybe I'd have a better day than I expected.  Even as the race started I felt good.
 

The first two miles were too slow- 8:30's.  So I picked it up a bit once the crowds thinned out.  Next two miles were 7:43/7:47 and I thought I might have something going for a good 10-miler.  Then the IT Band started to hurt.  I was surprised because I ran 7 on thursday without it hurting at all.  It wasn't terrible, so I pushed through for a couple more miles right around 8 min pace and still thought I could piece something together. Then there's a part of the course where the road is off camber and I could no longer keep the IT Band manageable.  I think if the road had been tilted in the other direction it would have healed me completely! Anyway, I decided not to get upset and to just run and enjoy the beautiful weather- it was too late to drop out.  I thought I still had time to see Greg on the bridge where the half and full marathons pass each other running in the opposite direction, but I had slowed to much.  That bummed me out a little.  I stopped and waited for 2 minutes just to be sure. Then decided I better get going so I beat him to the finish!  I continued to take my time and at 10 miles thought maybe i'd try to pick it up and at least finish strong.  My aches and pains didn't want to hear about it- by then my feet had joined the ITband party- apparently they were enjoying the beautiful weather too!  So I conceded and made my way to the finish...slowly.  Too bad because my fitness felt good- not even sure I sweat much or got my heart rate up.  Overall, I liked the course and could picture myself running much better there.  Oh well, I'm over it. 

I finished, got my bag, and got to the top of the stadium where you could see over the last bit of the course.  I watched Greg motor in and even yelled loud enough for him to hear me!  I got a couple pictures (almost forgot because I was so excited) but used a disposable camera because I didn't want to leave my good one in the bag check, so it'll be awhile before I use that film up and send them off to be developed.  Anyway, he had a great race - finshed a strong 2:34 (that's my man!) and, more surprisingly to many, liked it!  That made my day and at least I got a run in and a cool shirt. 

I'm pretty banged up, but not knocked out.  It's part of the process, and I still love it.....