Boston Training Going Well (Finally!)

Yesterday, after procrastinating much of the afternoon, dreading going out in the wind (I think my procrastination was exacerbated by Patti Dillon having posted on one of the boards that the wind made her bag her workout...the "blame Patti" system), I ran 2 1/2 hours. I seem to have hit the sweet spot clothingwise yesterday, wearing tights, a double shirt and light knit gloves - I sweated, but not excessively. I was well hydrated before, and since I was sweating minimally, I drank only about 6 oz. on the run. I'll log this one as a 17 miler, and the last hour was run in the dark, mostly in a string of parks and a college campus, and only the first couple and final mile on roads. It was my first legitimate long run in some time, and while the legs were a bit soft afterwards, there were no real problems.

I set my "most deer on a run" record last night. Climbing into the big park, I saw one on my left, followed almost immediately by two on my right. In one of the smaller parks, I saw what I thought was two dogs in the fading light, the realized they were deer. That put me seeing 5 separate deer in three sightings - five is one more than my previous record, and I've never had a three sighting run before. I did see a sign announcing that the deer reduction program in the big park would be taking place next week, so I doubt I'll match this for a while.

This morning, I went out and ran a bit over an hour - I think about an hour and 5 min, on some very tired legs. Aside from managing to blister my big toe pretty seriously - I was wearing my new Nike Zoom Elites, and they seemed to twist when subjected to braking forces on the downhill. This one will get logged as about 7 miles.

While climbing up the big hill in the park, I was passed by a cyclist. I shouted, "C'mon, climb." He looked back and grinned and both our paces increased. I kept him in sight until the top of the hill. When almost home, I passed a woman going the other way. She was wearing a bright green top. After the wave, I said, "You're wearing the right shirt for this weekend." She glanced at it, and said, "Got that right!"

For whatever reason, it seemed drivers we a bit more cautious yesterday and today. I don't know if it's the less harried life of the weekend; the fact that more running was in parks, where runners are more expected; or some other factor.

I want to make another post about Libby Riddles on a TV show I saw last night. Watch for it.