Today's Run = LONGEST run ever in a training run besides the 2 marathons. :)
1:00 PM - North Adams, MA. Emm and I went to see two of my coworkers up in Williamstown last night. We didn't get home until 2:30 and I was wide awake at 7. Not exactly a restful night's sleep. To make things worse, today was supposed to be my long run and it was overcast, temperature of 46 at the start and winds steady at 25mph with gusts up to 35 to 40mph (Found these gusts at the summit!) Today's mission: Summit the tallest mountain in Massachusetts, Mount Greylock (3491' elevation). The mountain road going up is 8 miles up. I was running by myself and had my 24 oz Amphipod and 2 HAMMER gels. I ran out of liquids 1:45 mins into the run so I need to plan ahead for the next long run and keep a stash either at the car or prestash another bottle out on the route. I followed the route up from the Williams Resevoir where I parked my car to the summit, same route as the road race that's held every September here. Going up is always a beast. Especially in the first few miles where there are seriously some 12-15% grades and numerous hairpin turns. 
I got some weird looks from people, especially some hikers that I came across at mile 6. Miles 6-8 had snow covering the roads and there is still upwards of a foot up there! Crazy considering we had 4 days in a row last week with temperatures between 75-87! At the summit I ran around the top and took a couple pictures with my cellphone and then started down because it was incredibly windy and cold! At some points the wind ripped through two layers of spandex, my fleece and long sleeve shirt, and hat/gloves. Coming down felt faster and I had to lean back to keep from falling. The way down went well overall and I got to the car and was planning on pushing the run out to 18 miles but I had run out of liquids and I was dying. My mouth was so dry and I decided that I had had enough. I wonder what my first 20 miler will feel like! :D HAMMER gels were at 45:00 and 1:30:00ish. After I got home I downed 2 powerades and my first recovery drink a 4:1 carb:protein drink. It said Fruit Punch, but Emma pointed out that it looked like toxic Pepto Bismal. HAHA. Splits: Going Up: - Mile 1: 10:13
- Mile 2: 11:34
- Mile 3: 11:59
- Mile 4: 11:38
- Mile 5: 12:28
- Mile 6: 10:50
- Mile 7: 10:47
- Mile 8: 10:45
- .2: 2:05 (10:39 pace)
- Total Time for Climbing the "Beast": 1:32:21
Going Down: - Mile 9: 9:03
- Mile 10: 9:07
- Mile 11: 8:44
- Mile 12: 8:56
- Mile 13: 8:57
- Mile 14: 8:58
- Mile 15: 9:03
- Mile 16: 9:34
- Mile 17: 10:00
- Total Time for Descending the "Beast": 1:12:25 (omits mi. 17)
Total Time: 2:54:46 Total Distance: 17 miles Average Pace: 10:17 
War Memorial at the top of Mt. Greylock (above) View from top (below)
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