Boston Prep 16 Miler - Run

Totally overdressed. Oops. Went out and bought a new shell last night - I don't know what it's made of but holy cow it was warm. It's really thin so I didn't expect it. I had also started with a balaklava and a hat... about 1/2 mile in I was ripping clothes off and couldn't get cooled down. Kept the hat off for probably 4 miles or so - and unzipped everything and it took me a while, but I did get cool. I started off feeling pretty good - I was happy with my pace - I know I'm slow and I wanted to beat last year's time. Then at mile 10 when the big hills started, I kind of fell apart. My legs, specifically my hip flexors, were tired. My knee was not hurting - but it was tired and squishy. I listened to my iPod the whole way this time - rather than try and talk to people. :) I was a little surprised at how jacked my HR was - especially at the end. The hills end at right around the 13 mile point - so I really wanted to try and kick it - and catch up some of the time I'd lost. Well turns out I didn't have much kick left, even though I was going downhill or flat for the last 3 miles. I kept checking my HR to make sure it wasn't in my head - but it was pretty high. Then at mile 15 I said to hell with it, stopped looking at the watch, turned off the iPod and tried to kick it to beat last years time. 4 aid stations - 1st one downed 1 gatorade (warm - ew). 2nd and 3rd one stopped completely and downed 2 full cups of gatorade, and they were generous cups so I felt like I'd really replenished. Then at mile 13 I took one cup and finished up.

Dress lighter. Run faster. :)

Walked back into the school. Needed to walk. Went straight to the food and desperately needed water. Ate a little and got out of dodge, headed to my folks place and took a shower and then did all my stretching. A little too late after the fact, but better late than never. Would have prepared stretch at the school - but all my stretches are on the floor and that place was disgusting.


I don't think the overheating at the beginning really helped, I think I'd have been better off starting out a little cold. And the knee did not like the hills. It never did hurt a lot, but on the downhills I could feel it. And I'm slow. That limits my ability to perform faster too. :) I need to push harder, I think I am finally coming to the conclusion that I don't like the way it feels to push that limit. So I stay slow. I'm stubborn, so I get through it, but it's on my terms so I don't push outside the comfort zone. I got through the hills and really did try to push at the end - but kept watching the HR go higher and higher into Z5 and just felt icky.


I enjoy this race because of all the crazy people. This year was 25 degrees colder than last year and yet the same number of insane people showed up. And the difficulty level is just downright silly. And I love that about it. I will do this race again and again - there is something about running outside in January that feels awesome. People think you're crazy and I guess I like that.