So this was a bit chillier than I had hoped for. The maximum temperatures of the day were supposed to be in the 40s, but the day started around 22°F. I set out in the morning from my apartment at around 6:30 AM. A lot earlier than I’m used to on my run days, when I don’t need to be in the office. Now, this run was 17 miles starting in the Natick area all the way to the finish line along the marathon route. The theme of the run was superheros, and I chose my hero because I knew he wore plenty of winter gear (without a mask covering my eyes).
He has a metal arm, I have a metal leg, same thing!
Also, his gear is a lot more aerodynamic than others! It was definitely an interesting run, and informative for that fateful day 46 days from now.
I started out very impatient and a little nervous. The last time I tried to run outside with such chilly temperatures I did not do well. It started a little warmer than before the sun came out, but it still was extremely cold. I also had to store some of my warmer gear at the Runbase on Boylston Street before getting on the bus to get to the VFW in Natick. I got to talk to a couple more charity runners on my team, and socialized on the bus ride over. I was hoping the temperature would keep rising as the sun warmed everything up, I don’t believe this was the case.
When we got off the bus we immediately walked into the VFW and utilized the bathrooms, tables, and mirrors. Right off the bat I was treated to a young 17 year old asking “Captain Who? Planet?” which immediately made me feel really old.
It was at this time we shuffled out the door to take a lot more pictures and start dropping our body temperatures for another 15-20 minutes. I was so happy to start running at this point, I don’t think I cared how many miles, we finally started at around 8:45 AM. A lot of the charities had different aid stations with an assortment of gatorade, pretzels and m&m’s. I partook of the water and gatorade from time to time but ignored most of it. I have a set fuel plan so I wanted to stick to that. I had my peanut butter bagel before setting out (cold sadly 😥 ), and one of my oatmeal bars right before the run started.
Overall my pace started off badly, but I also started the run at the tail end of 300+ people. It took me a while to separate from the pack and join my compatriots that were closer to my pace. So my first mile was an abysmal 9:50 min/mile. I then got right on track and hit 8:45-9:00 min/mile (depending on lights, crowds, and if I picked up anything to drink).
Once I got going, I warmed up a bit and really hit my stride. I ran like I always do, a robot at a pace. I don’t understand why I’m so good at finding my pace and sticking to it, but I’ll take what I can get. We had a couple hills to start, but only about halfway through did the real Newton hills start.
My pace only dropped to 9:22 min/mile on Heart Break Hill!
There were a lot of cool sights to see, but I knew how much this run meant to me mentally and I HAD to hit my mark. Some of these included an appearance by Matt Light of the Patriots and Keytar bear of Boston!
Near the 15 mile mark my phone started to beep at my it was low on battery. This was especially confusing considering I started the run at 90% battery life. I’m thinking the cold and different syncing problems caused it to drop charge faster than normal. I did stop briefly to high five and wave at the Last Call Foundation relief truck, but I was so far into my run I had to keep going.
I eventually got lost trying to find the run base, zig zagging around the back bay area until I found Boylston and the Run base. Part of this is due to how confusing backbay is, and the other part is that I don’t run with my glasses. I’ve since picked up a prescription for contacts that has largely been successful so far.
My phone died at this time at 1% as I was saving my data (the gps data looks pretty screwy on the map from the low battery). I was feeling strong, so instead of stopping at the 17.5ish miles they prescribed from our parking lot in Natick, I grabbed my gear and kept running until I hit the red line in the Boston Commons. I roughly mapped out my route on an online map.
This has me hitting 18.5 miles, but my Fitbit has 19 miles, so I went with 19 miles in my estimations. No matter what, I finished strong, tired, cold, and accomplished. It was a big boost in confidence after the previous week. I put on my sweat shirt and workout pants but my body temperature quickly dropped on the MBTA red line. I returned home very satisfied that I had accomplished what I had set out to do.
I used some pace calculators to figure out what my marathon time will be if I take into account that I run my 20 milers at around 2:58:00 hours. The calculators have me easily finishing under 4 hours at around 3:50:00. On race day I hope to be running a little bit faster a pace. I think that sets me up for a great run in 46 days!
After that I went out with some friends for dinner and relaxed the rest of the weekend away. I came back enthused at the beginning of the week to do better at hills Tuesday than I had in the previous week. I seem to be fighting a cold though, I had been fighting it vigilantly since Saturday, that gained steam Wednesday and Today. Hopefully it won’t derail my speed work too much tonight, we shall see. It is a nasty cough and sore throat with exhaustion to boot sadly.
I am starting to get jittery, I have my first of 3 trips before the Marathon, and we are approaching less than a month out! I am still on the lookout to take my fundraising to the next level as soon as my blog entry for the John Hancock Extra Mile goes up. I’ve been impatiently bugging them about a time table, as a few other entries have gone up already. I want to use the link in my fundraising and I hope it gives me some extra exposure I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. I already have multiple people and emails waiting on the link.
Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to my teammates and my charity. They all did excellent and showed up in superb fashion! The Last Call Foundation brought out the relief truck and provided some much needed fluids/snacks after heartbreak hill. Thank you all!
We shall see what this long run has in store for me, I’d prefer not to get used to any cold temperatures, I’m afraid the Marathon will be warmer than usual and I want to be in that mindset. I’ve mentioned in the past that in the last 10 years the coldest Marathon was in 2015 at 46°F and the warmest was in 2012 at 87°F. I’m much more afraid of the upper end of that spectrum. The Chilly Half Marathon in November was 43°F, so I’ve shown I can handle the low end. I believe the Plymouth Bay Brewery Half Marathon was in the 60’s or 70’s. We shall see what the weather has in store for me! Neverthelesss, training in freezing temperatures below 30°F with a cold will not make me a better runner. I may have one more treadmill long run left in my training.
trapstoohottohandle 