Chaire Herodikos Selymbriaios!

Yesterday I turned in my doctoral dissertation. Took this morning very easy, probably 8:20 or so. I've been maintaining at about 40 mpw since June, but totally watchless. Did the usual 7.5, but hadn't been out at all since Sunday so naturally felt stronger and had to concentrate on sensible parameters given sleep deprivation. A couple of weeks ago I tried to hit pace on the flat by the river after two hour's sleep and strained an oblique, so a good lesson there.

The morning was really beautiful. River was smooth, the riffles sharply defined. Air cool, just a slight bite of autumn. At about mile 6.75 I felt something rise up out of me between ribs VI and VII and fly off into the clouds, without leaving a trace. Then I ran home.

Another easy run. Spaced out and missed my turn up the hill at the Fresh Pond apartment complex, had to backtrack a bit. Morning temp was cool, and felt a little stiff in the left quad/ITB. Stopped at about mile 6 to stretch, and it's still a tad sore but not too bad.

Just got word (within 24 hours!) that they love it, so looks like a November degree is a real possibility. The marathon is over, only  a year later than planned. Thought about writing a race report, but not sure I'm ready to relive all that agony!

Nice autumn rain, air temp warm, big round drops. Came home with a cocktail of sweat and New England atmospheric soot on my face, felt great. Ran Willow to Broadway up the stairs to the top of Tufts, then back down by Alewife Parkway. Mile or so (aggregate) at pace, took the downhill at a normal speed, felt pretty good, all things considered. I could be back in race shape before too too long.

.....Oh yeah, barked my right shin yesterday something arful! Big old bump.  But it didn't seem to bother on the run.

Having trouble keeping the blog, but running about every other day. Leaving the old place and finishing the dissertation broke up my routine! Need to get back into it. Nice places to run here.

Hard run! Did it at pace in the first snow/sleet of winter, around 6:00 pm. Totally beat afterwards.

There was bright sun at noon and was able to steal a couple of hours. Ran both sides of the Mystic River trail with 1600m at the track at Everett High at 6:30 pace. Beautiful run.

Nice easy run out to Arlington, nothing special to report, slight rain on the way home but it was pretty warm and comfortable. My stride felt good.

Diet has been bad last two weeks, eating out too much. Need to work on that. Had an excellent linguine carbonara at Mike's, though.

Set sail in the U.S.S. Minnow on a stunning New England fall evening for an 8.5 mile tour. Intention was to run past Alewife to Fresh Pond, do a circuit, then back via Porter Square.

Everything was seaworthy, except the navigation system. Took a slight wrong turn--onto the Concord Turnpike. Nice soft dirt shoulder, if you can ignore the eighteen-wheel rigs whizzing past at 70 mph...

Half a mile or so of that was my limit: took the Lake Street Exit (literally), but had no idea where I was. Headed down Brighton Street in what turns out to have been Belmont/Arlington. Got to a large cluster of assisted living apartments in a green belt, many old people driving large SUVs very slowly. Ran the parking lot, decided to turn around and go back to Pleasant Street (which actually is only so-so). This seems to have been a mistake. If I'd just followed my nose I'd have gotten home a lot sooner.

Ended up doing a loop through Belmont Center, past the Macy's, under the bridge, which iswhere I started recognizing landmarks again. At that point it was kind of a lark. The air was crisp and fine and the dying light was like something out of a dusty bottle in a cellar in Avignon.  Ran Claypit Pond and took Concord Ave home via Porter.

Anyway, there's my long run for the week, folks. Did it in about 1:40.

Thoroughly unsatisfying workout. Joined a track club to whip myself into shape over the winter. First workout yesterday, when I told him my situation (plateaued at about 7:00, conditioning erratic during the dissertation, diet needs work, but now looking forward to moving to the next phase) the coach told me bluntly "you can't keep up with any of these guys" and instructed me to run with the lead pack and then backtrack and pick them up again rather than following my own pace.

Stupid idea. It was a crazy run: hurt without giving me any real benefit in terms of a consistent pace and heart rate. Felt lousy afterwards without any real satisfaction in a completed task. Not to mention the wind was coming off the water at about 40mph so the stretch was impossible. Hopefully next week will be more useful.