[S]he Conquers Who Endures

A little worried about this one. After walking in heels for a conference the end of the week, then walking around the race expo all day the day before the race, and hardly getting any sleep for several days, oh and after PRing in an 8k Sunday followed by a 20 miler Monday...yea, just a smidge of worry.

I had a nice 1.75 mile warmup to the start, jumped into the corral at the mid 6 min/mi pace section...shame on me. Once the race was started, I realized about 80% of the people in the 6 min/mi pace corral apparently are unaware they do not run 6 min/mi pace...in fact, I wouldn't even say they run 8 min/mi pace. About half a mile in I nearly ripped off my bib and quit because it felt like a joke. I probably have a bad attitude, but I am just ticked because I feel like it's dishonest and rude to line up at a pace you have absolutely zero intention of running.

Regardless, I stuck with it. My first mile 6:48, slower than my 8k AP. Then comes the water stop. A girl runs from the left side of the course where they are handing out water directly across the course to the right to get water...just after 1 mile! I ignored the frustration and just kept going, my second mile was 6:40. The crowd at this point has dwindled a bit. Mile 3 felt good even though it was the most difficult (small hills), 6:26! I see the finish line and just try to keep pushing to cross the finish and grab another PR. I was pretty happy about this. 6:26 is my knew 1 mile PR and happened at the end of the race! It goes to show you to stick things out cause you never know what will happen at the end of the race, even if it is short! I KNOW I could have run this faster, but am so happy with this amazing time, so that is a really cool feeling. Plus, it's over a 1 min PR in a 5k for me since December!!

Finished with a 1.7 mile cool down. Then hit the Minutemen Bike Path for 10 more miles to fill out my long run. AP 8:03 min/mi which just ended up being a progression run: 9:11, 8:51, 8:36, 8:10, 7:58, 7:43, 7:40, 7:27, 7:35, 7:18.

Now I'm ready to cheer on all the marathon runners!! Yay!!! See you at the top of HH. :) 

5.2 miles at the end of the course and 3.1 miles run to fetch the car. The most surreal run. A friend from Chicago was running the Boston Marathon with another friend. I was spectating with her sister at the top of Heartbreak Hill. She asked us to run us in, so we left all our valuables on the ground to help her BQ at Boston. It was the four of us running, which was really special because the four of us were on a Ragnar Ultra team last June. Right before my friend crossed the finish, her sister and I thought about hopping the fence to get out of the finish area. The volunteer told us just to finish. We all cried, said our congratulations, then when we were saying our goodbyes, we heard a bang. We just left anyway. Then on the train, we found out what that bang was. I still can't believe we were so lucky. We were 30 mins ahead of the explosions. If my friend and I ended up hopping the fence, we would have been waiting right at the spot where the first bomb went off. If my friend had a bad race, we could have crossed right at the wrong time. My heart goes out to all the spectators and runners, I cannot imagine what they have been through.

6 easy miles along Charles River in Boston with one heavy heart. There were a lot of nice things written in chalk on the path "Boston Strong" "Today is a brighter day", etc. Started feeling a little uplifted towards the end of the run. 9:07 min/mi pace.

Finished up with some pushups, planks, and calf raises. 

Track workout outside on the 400m track...finally...with the girls. :)

Workout was going to be 12x400m, but I've been doing so many 400s for these shorter races these last couple of weeks I was happy to join the girls in some 1200m repeats. I was thinking I'd do 4 because it would be the same distance total as the 400s, but dropped the 4th repeat because I thought my legs felt too spent to push it and it's supposed to be taper anyway.

1200s were in: 4:53.6, 4:47.3, 5:01.1. The girls had me lead the 2nd repeat, hence, the speediness :) I didn't realize I was running so hard so pulled back and paced behind the girls for the final repeat.

Finished up with PT exercises and core work. 

5 easy miles with 5x0.1 mile strides. I'm not sure why but my knee pain has returned in full force. The pain goes completely away then comes back. Body, I understand you are tired, please just hold up for Big Sur then I promise you will have a break!!!

Stride paces were: 5:36, 5:13, 5:20, 5:16, 4:47 min/mi. The last stride was a stride PR for me.