A Clean 18

The DFMC group convened in Waltham this Saturday at the Boston Sports Club at Healthpoint, which also happens to be in the same building as the practice facility for the Celtics. 16-18 miles was on the docket for today and as I signed in, I decided that I'd give 18 a try. My previous longest run was 16+ a few weeks ago in Wayland so, assuming Jack knew what he was doing when he put his training plan together, and the fact that I've been feeling pretty good lately, I decided to go for a new personal record.

Stop me if you've heard this before....it was cold...damn cold. I'm thankful that Canada kept the jet stream in check and forced the blizzard that assaulted Baltimore down to our south, but the 20 degree weather and wind is starting to bug me and I'm seriously starting to think of deals to make with Mother Nature in order to send us a 40 degree group run sometime soon.

Anyway, the run started out fine and at a comfortable pace. I ran by myself for a while with the IPod jacked up, but I ended up running and talking with a few other runners that caught up to me. At the second water stop, I did some quick math based on the calculus that were presented to us in order to determine which routes to take and repeat, depending on how many miles people wanted to run. Once I figured out the combination that would lead me to a clean 18, I ended up hanging with the group for about another 1/2 mile after the water stop, when I realized it would be a good idea to let them go if I had any chance of finishing 18 upright. The music's volume went back up.

It started to get hilly...really hilly. Lots of up and downs on both sides of the fork. I tried to manage them by holding back on the downhills and giving a little extra on the uphills. All said and done, I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would once I finished each side, but I could feel myself getting tired and cold near the end. As I continued past the water stop after hitting the 1.6 miles stretch for the second time, I started to head up the other hill again towards the Carroll School, when it donned on me that I screwed up. The first giveaway was that no one was heading down the hill at me. That's when I realized that, given the mileage I had already run, I was supposed to be heading back to the gym and not back out on that stretch of road. So, I decided to make it to the top of the hill and then turn around and head back to home base.

At this point, I was about 13.75 miles into the run and the legs were getting heavy. I made it past the final water stop and through Lincoln Center without any issues but at a much slower pace. As I made my way back onto Winter St., I got a little disoriented and at one point, thought I was on the wrong road. As I made it up a hill, I saw a woman out for a walk. I ended up scaring her to death when I came up behind her and asked if Healthpoint was straight ahead. After she caught her breath and stopped laughing, she told me it was straight ahead and a few miles up the road. I apologized for the intrusion and kept going.

After dodging 6-7 deer that came stampeding across the street and almost tackled me, I hit the stretch of Winter St. that became less residential and more corporate. At this point, the hamstrings were in rough shape due to the cold and the hills, and I was toast. The only good thing about heading up the wrong hill earlier was that my 18 miles finished pretty close to the bottom of the hilly drive leading back to the club. Even walking up that hill was tough. But at the end of the day, I made my mileage and, considering I kept the Garmin running at the water stops, I was OK with my time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24074989

After downing 3 G2's and stretching for about 15 minutes, I headed for the car. As I pulled out the parking lot, I noticed a very large black Mercedes with illegally dark tinted windows and dealer plates that pulled into the complex. I wondered which Celtic was coming to practice and if he would have been impressed with the miles that many of us put in that morning.

Once again, THANKS to the volunteers who were out there with the snacks and beverages. You guys are patient, dedicated and obviously have an unbelievable ability to deal with miserable temperatures.

I took today off and will probably give myself one more day of rest on Monday. I've found that after going a distance I've never gone before, the extra day helps a little bit. It gets me off Jack's plan for a day, but I'll play catch up later in the week.