3/28 Running Diary--Transcript of the day

6:00am – Wake up. I just stared at my alarm—summoning enough will power to not hit snooze.

6:10am – Jump into a hot shower to try and ease some of the muscle pains.

6:43am – Light breakfast that consists of a Natty Valley bar and an English muffin.

7:10am – Left the apartment to walk up to the B Line to catch a T to BC.

7:11am – Quickly felt compelled to walk the mile to BC, so that one day I could say I traveled from Brookline to Natick and then back. “See in my day we didn’t have any of these fancy hover crafts to transport us from place to place.”

7:28am – That plan fell apart, as the T showed up one stop before BC. We’ll get to my angst with the T and the B Line again later.

7:40am – Arrive on campus and really hoping to see BC’s finest partaking in the walk of shame. No luck.

7:45am – Announcements from Jan and Jack, light stretching, and going over my GU strategy. The plan calls for GU at miles 5, 10.5, and 17.

8:06am – Start out from the “Johnny” Flynn recreation center at BC. I would have liked to see BC have a better run in the tournament, same goes for Cuse.

8:55am – Get to the second water stop, at the Gulf station right before Woodland T Station. 5 miles into the run in 49 minutes is fine with me. This run somewhat simulates the changes of elevation on race day, so starting out slow going down heartbreak and the second hill is the right way to go about it. Looking forward to seeing the DFMC cheering section here on 4/20!

9:18am – Getting questions from other DFMC runners about when the next water stop is coming up. I’ve appointed myself as the official tour guide for the team. But I give the worst tours ever, because I’m not interested in talking, or going into the history of Wellesley, 7 miles into a run.

9:24am – Water stop #3 right by the Wellesley fields and tennis courts that I got my ass handed to in every tennis match in high school.

9:35am – Pass by the Bank of America in Wellesley that got held-up this week. This state has got a serial bank robber with some serious balls. I don’t think it will be pulled off a third time. Dude is going down soon.

9:49am – Arrive to the fourth water stop which is 10.5 miles out. Welcome to Natick! My running partner Julie decides she is turning around here. 2 weeks ago I forced her to do 20, but I could see the look in her face, no persuading needed—she was turning around. Check out her website http://www.juliedoesbeantown.tumblr.com. Sorry bro’s not what you’re thinking, just an entertaining blog.

10:10am – After leaving Julie, continuing through Natick and thankfully noticing the Dana-Farber cones chilling on the sidewalk marking the turn-around point, I’m 10.5 miles away from BC. Thanks so much to the amazing DFMC volunteers! Best out there today!

10:12am – Pass by Kay and Katy, DFMC teammates and event extraordinariness’, as I come up to the Wellesley College fields.

10:22am – All the elite runners from the other charities have passed and are passing me now. I want to know if running 22 miles is easier from Hopkinton to BC or BC to Natick and back.

10:30am – I realize that the last 8.1 miles are going to be a battle.

10:34am – Not feeling as strong as I would like to, but at least had something nice to look at in front of me in pink shorts. But she was running too fast therefore I was back to thinking about the pain.

10:55am – I hear 2 runners approaching behind me. One says, “What a nice day, we are so blessed.” I don’t think this was a religious interpretation of his running or just a comment on the nice weather, but at that moment I looked up and it was just a perfect day. It took my mind off the running and I was just able to reflect. Yes, I really am blessed for this opportunity, this weather, the city, the amazing people I have come to know, and the money I have been able to fundraise over the past 2 years. $14,000 raised for cancer research over the past two years is something to be proud of, but still got a lot more work to do. Of course I wish the circumstances were different, but the support from so many has helped immensely. I’m blessed and grateful for that as well.

11:25am – Woohoo just 2.5 miles to BC!

11:40am – The moment we’ve been waiting for, heartbreak hill. Let the inner monologue begin. I kept saying to myself; do not crap out on this hill like you did last year. Intense, I know, but my mind and body battle so much on these long runs. I’ve heard from a lot of people that when you come up to this point, just look down and focus on the road. Well, quite the contrary to my plan of attack for the hill today. Head up, eyes directly on the end of the hill, and don’t give in. So a few minutes later I conquered heartbreak and was onto my final descent back to BC. Going downhill at this point is just killing my quads, but I was still pushing and exerting all my energy to finish strong.

11:52am – Finish what you have started! Run around the BC campus, along the same route I started to get back to the Flynn rec center.

Stats: 22.7 miles in 3:46:00. Average pace – 9:56 per mile. Have to be better prepared for the Marathon in 3 weeks.

12:04pm – While everyone was stretching I decided a shoot-around on the basketball court would be a good way to loosen up. I also racked up 2 wins in PIG, over Julie Nielsen, who had the highest free-throw percentage and 3-pt percentage in Iowa during high school. I will conduct a fact check on that later.

12:36pm – Left the gym, and still it is such an amazing day. Hustled as painfully as it was to the T to take that back. I did not want to walk. I was waving to the T-driver, and I know she saw me, but would not open the doors. I let her have it—hopefully she heard me. Would someone print – I hate the MBTA – shirts? So I just walked it home. Don’t worry, I’m over it now.

1:55pm – Sitting outside I see Jesse walking back from playing some ball. Here is how the dialogue transpired. Read on.

Me: You get a game doing at the court?
Jesse: Yeah, some people playing. What have you been up to today?
Me: I ran 23 miles this morning (runners round up distance and round down time)
Jesse: Damn, how was that?
Random Guy: Wait did you just say you ran 23 miles this morning?
Me: Yes I did. I’m a bit of a local celebrity around here.
Random Guy: Wow, I want to shake your hand. That’s impressive.
Random Guy’s wife: He just stopped in his tracks and turned around while we were having a conversation to ask you about your run.
Random Guy: Are you running the marathon? You should win.
Me: Yeah I’ll try that. Nice meeting you.

2:06pm – Big brunch at Johnny’s luncheonette in Newton. The wait was too long at Zaftigs.

The rest of the day is going to be interesting. Walking around is a horrible task, yet I am going to the Cask N Flagon with some runners and for some drinks. Then will be meeting up with my friends later on Boylston St. If I happen to fall asleep in any location, or collapse under my weak legs, I hope that I am not kicked out of the bar. I am going to wear my 2008 marathon jacket, so that way I can at least say I ran 23 miles this morning to train for the 2009 marathon. Tomorrow it is back to the gym to stretch, do some bike and other cardio to get the muscles working again. Just about 3 weeks to go, and I never made it past 14 miles in training last year.