A Beautiful Day and a Brush with Greatness

With a Saturday looming full of activities for my little guy (swim lessons, baseball practice, etc.), I decided to fit in my long run of the week on Friday, thanks to out Good Friday holiday. For the last time before the race, I drove to the other side of town grabbed my stuff, locked the car and headed east down 135 for an out-and-backer of 16 miles.

The weather was beautiful and I felt pretty good through the first 6 miles or so. But my the time I hit the 9 mile mark, I felt tired and my motivation was slowly waning. At one point, I just wanted to walk. I'm not sure why I hit the wall when I did, but I hit it all the same and as I went past Wellesley College on the way back home, I felt like crap. That's when things took a turn for the better.

As I went past the college and started back up the hill heading towards Pond St., I could see a girl standing on the sidewalk at the crest. I thought this was very odd. She had running gear on, but she wasn't running. Just then, someone cams hauling butt over the hill down the sidewalk towards me. The guy was flying down the hill and he grabbed a water from the girl who was standing there. That's when it hit me. The guy running down the sidewalk at me was Ryan (Freakin') Hall (his wife Sarah was the one waiting with the water). As I ran by him, I gave him a "Go get 'em, Ryan", to which he responded with a thumbs up and a smile. I also gave a "good luck" to his wife as she went back to the car on Pond St., which received a "thank you" in response.

Needless to say, I was pretty jacked up at this point and I got rid of my blahs. I mean, how often can a hacker like me in a specific sport be practicing on the same playing field as the guy who is the best in the country and one of the best in the world at the same sport? That's why running is cool. Stuff like this never happened in baseball, that's for sure. Keep your eyes peeled for him over the next few weeks if you're running the course.

This all happened the day after I saw the President drive by me in his motorcade on the back roads of Marlborough. Random and weird all around.

The next mile that I ran was the 2nd fastest for the run (my heart rate raced up a bit as well) and I ended up finishing the last few miles pretty strong.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28718167

I tried to do a better job of going out slower today and keeping some in the tank for the second half, and I almost ran a negative split for the run (missed by 6 seconds). From here, the taper continues. It will be nice to get rid of some of the creakiness I'm feeling right now in my knees and hamstrings leading up to the race.

Happy Easter!!