Saturday 10 miler
Covid-19, “The Rona Era”
To run or not to run the Boston Marathon, that is the question. Running it would be great training for states #48 and #49. Right now my body is not as strong as it should be. I’m still dealing with my pelvic floor issue- thou it’s getting better and my left knee- the Hoffa Fat Pad knee is acting up. How can I can 13.1 miles let alone 26.2. And the Boston Marathon is 8 weeks away. Do I have time to train and stay healthy? So many questions and issues.
To solve this, perhaps, I wanted to run on the Boston Marathon course this morning and shoot for a 10 mile run. The last time I ran 10 miles plus was in October when I ran in Portland for state #47. My pelvic floor was more of an issue than my knee but I did it and survived.
Now it’s a different story. This morning I got up early to drive to Newton to the Heartbreakers running company. The store is mile 20 on the marathon route. When I was training for Paris, I ran the boston marathon route, which helped with running the Paris Marathon but that was almost two years ago,
Saturday’s in winter are popular with runners running the route for Boston Marathon training. There are lots of groups and organizations that run the route on Saturday. The really cool thing, is the fuel support. Along the route are volunteers with tables of water, Gatorade, pretzels etc.. for the runners. The community support is amazing.
Before I ran part of the route, I drove it, to make sure I remember from two years ago the directions I need to follow. I’m happy that my memory was on point.
I parked at the running company and started my run. I ran towards and through Boston College before continuing past the Boston Newton line- running through Newton, Newton Center, Waban
I started running at 7 a.m. and the runners were already out. I saw groups of runners and duo running partners. I started running slow and steady. I made sure to eat peanut butter on rye toast and take two aleve before I left the house. Since this would be a long run for me, I packed some energy gummies and a kind bar.
The first hour of running was quiet. I saw most of the runners when I ran through Boston College. As I ran I was paying attention to my body and how she was feeling. I listen to her to let me know what started to hurt or feel achy. How the achy feeling moved to different parts of my body. For example, around mile 5, I was in Waban, the achy feeling of my knee moved to my lower calve muscle on my left knee. I took a mental note of that.
I remembered to eat a snack and hydrate every three miles. Next time I need to bring my water bottle. This run was more of a baseline for me. As I approached the Firestation, the milemarker on the Boston Marathon route, I saw all the runners. They were running in full force. There were runners on the sidewalk and street because the sidewalk was too small for all of them. Around this time it close to 8:30a.m. I know the running company had a Saturday run which started at 8 a.m., way too late for me. I guess these were the runners.
Some of the folks running I recognized because I use to to track-work with the Heart breakers and also from races and runs in the city. The minority running community is so small. The African-American and Asian American women that I know, saw me and we high fived while running.
That was an unexpected surprise. When I reached the firehouse, the firefighters had a table with water, pretzels, etc.. I happily, took a cup of water. This was part of the official route. As I looked up the hill I had to run, I saw other tables with running fuel. Now, around 8 a.m. is when the majority of the runners would be out- so noted.
I passed by four tables as I made my way towards milemarker 20. I’m seeing my runners running. I saw a group of asain American runners that were part of a running team. I was proud to see more diversity on the course.
When I reached the running store at mile 20, I completed 10 miles. I thought about running more to reach 13.1 miles but that didn’t happened. I reminded myself that this was a baseline. This was the most miles I’ve run this year. With some acupuncture and training, running this marathon could be doable.
