Accidential Half Marathon Saturday

COVID-19, “The Rona Era”

January seems like it is flying by. I have three more Saturday long runs this month. Starting today, I’ll do the long runs on the Boston Marathon route. I wasn’t sure if I should run 11 or 12 miles since I ran 11 last Saturday. What does that look like on the Boston Marathon route? I decided to do an out and back. Meaning, I drove to mile 20, which is the heartbreakrunning company, in Newton, for my start. Then from there, ran the 6.1 miles to the finish line in Boston. I’m not a fan of the out and back. I wasn’t sure how far a loop would be in miles.

It takes 23mins to drive to mile 20. I had to factor that into my wake up time. I wanted to start running at 6a.m. Getting up, stretching, eating, and driving takes a while. I started running at 6:30a..m.

This was a morning of firsts. First time I had on a fuel vest, running on the course this year, and doing an out and back.

The good thing about this course are the inclines and hills. I need my knees and body to get ready for big Sur. I made it to the finish line. Then when I started to run back, that’s when I saw all the runners. That’s when I saw volunteers with tables set up for water and snacks. That’s when the course seem to be a bit crowded. The start time for most running groups is 8a.m. That’s late for me. Hence the early start plus I have things to do.

I did feel challenge on some of the inclines. I walked a bit but ran more. I really need to start going to strength training class twice a week and cycling class.

My fear is getting hurt or injured. My fear is not finishing. I have 106 days until Big Sur to work on that.

The last time I ran from mile 20 to the finish line was 2022 when I ran the Boston Marathon. I kept thinking, I could have ran this stronger. During my training, this was the part of the marathon route that I never trained on.

When I ran 11 miles last week, on a mostly flat pavement I ran it in 2 hours , 1 min and at at 10:57 mile pace. Today I ran 13 miles in 2 hours and 30mins at at 11:11 pace. Training continues………………..