I found my thrill...

...on Heartbre--ak Hill.

My goal of running the entire course continued today with a very large chunk of the course completed. I have now run the first 21 miles of the marathon course in three seperate workouts. I love running the course.

Today's adventure began where I left off on Thursday at the 10 mile mark in Natick. I parked at a meter downtown at 4:50 and was relieved to know that the meters are free after 5pm. I put in a quarter to be safe and walked 1,000 feet to mile 10. I warmed up with an easy 2 miles going into Wellesley. I had 4 miles at marathon pace, 2 miles easy, and then another 4 miles at MP. I ran through Wellesley with miles of 6:43, 6:38, 6:34, and 6:40. I had to stop at a couple traffic lights, but it wasn't too bad.

I ran a couple easy miles making my way into Newton. From what I understand, there are four hills from miles 16-21. I encountered the first one during the recovery phase while crossing over 128. That one wasn't bad. They were a little harder after turning right onto Commonwealth. I started the next rep at mile 18 (my eighth mile), and it was a bit harder. I ran on the one way residential road that was essentially like a walking path with a good amount of walkers and runners. I was a bit slower getting up the Newton Hills with miles of 6:44 and 6:53 before getting to mile 20 (my 10) just before Heartbreak.

I did pretty good getting up the hill, hitting the mile 21 mark with a 6:54. It obviously wasn't easy, but not bad after running 10+ miles. We'll see how I feel after running 20 miles in April, though. The timing is the worst part of that one. I head back the other way by finishing the 2nd rep with a 6:23 downhill. It was a little slower than the first rep, but understandable for the Newton Hills.

I cooled down running some low 8's back down Commonwealth to the Auburndale MBTA Station. Only one problem - I didn't have any cash in my wallet. I ran another 300 yards or so to an ATM to get some cash and saw that it was 6:56, exactly 1 minute before the next train was due. I booked it back to the station, and the train was arriving. I had to haul ass, but fortunately the conductor saw me coming and I avoided having to wait for the next one.

This was an awesome run, putting my rolling 7 day mileage up to 80 miles, a personal best! I don't think that I have ever done a solo run that was this fun! I feel like I am really coming around. Things are looking good.