We all knew it was going to be a miserable day due to the weather, but it just got worse and worse as the morning went on. Misery loves company, especially amongst runners sitting in a van, semi-wet and cold, for two hours waiting for others to put in a full marathon.
FYI, Boston is on April 19th. JFK 50 Miler is on Nov 20th!
We say that you CAN run more than 20 miles on these runs, if you wanted to, but we just say that, it doesn't actually mean that you can!!
I'm not bitter, just very, very tired. Stayed up last night taking care of a sick dog. Not a good idea before a long run.
Speaking of long runs, the planned GLRR Boston long run for today was to be about 20 miles, starting at the world famous, and fan favorite, electrical sub-station parking lot/ditch in Newton to, the lesser known, Heartbreak Hill.
With the Wild Rover #3 tomorrow afternoon, I decided to just call it a day at 12.5, after tackling Heartbreak once more. I felt better this week than last week, mainly because I ran two fewer miles and at a 7:40 pace this time around.
I ran the first three or so miles alone and then Charlie (new, non-official GLRR guy) came up alongside me going at 7:45's. He has the same goal as me for Boston (sub 3), so it was nice to work off one another for the rest of the run. We came up on Peter at the second water stop, at around mile 6, and he pulled us along at about 7:30's for the remainder of my run.
Peter and Charlie left me at the water stop around mile 12.5, on the return trip, and went on to finish their 20 miler. Good run, guys!
I quickly got changed in Jessica's van. Man, was it cold! Hey Jess, that's not man junk on your seats, it's GU! I SWEAR!
To make a long story short ("too late!"), Peter, Scott, myself and pretty much everyone else was done for the day, but we still had to wait and wait and wait. The very shy and quiet Jess, and I, were in the van for at least two hours waiting for the last runners in our group to finish. Strangely, two members had vanished from the course (see above). One of them was not wearing his prescription glasses, so that could have been the reason for the wrong turn.
The two lost walnuts (as in GLRR "members") detoured through the all-women's Wellesley College campus to get back on track....hmmmm...
Eventually, everybody made it back to the van safely...and decided to keep on running! Well, it was a beautiful day for a full marathon, afterall.
Overall, it was another great run and effort by all involved (the GLRR lawyers are making me say that).
UPDATE: Now that I've had time to sleep on it, I am just amazed at what Fil and Paul were able to accomplish out there on a such a miserable day weather-wise. Nice job guys. I mean that.
Time to take that nap that I had originally planned for last night.
See most of you at the Hynes tomorrow!
Here's another GLRR Collectors' Card for you rabid GLRR fans:
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