Day 100 started off like most of the Saturdays so far this year, with a run.
I woke up early and decided to get my run out of the way early, as a busy and beautiful day was anticipated. I got dressed in the soft light of morning and took the boys out to use the bathroom. I purposedly dressed in shorts and my light running attire to see if I would need anything else on my run. It was about 40 degrees at 7:30AM.
I decided to keep my relatively thick 2008 marathon jacket on as I ran the half mile from my apt down to the GLRR office on Merrimack St for the 8AM GLRR group run. Matt, Paul, and a few others were just getting out of their cars as I stopped my Garmin...near the the toilet out in front of the GLRR office?! Is this a running club prank/threat like the horse's head in The Godfather?
I went upstairs to just drop off my jacket as I knew it would only get warmer from here on out. I ran into Andy as he was coming back down to lead the run.
Back downstairs was now Jim Q. and some new GLRR faces (apologies, I am awful at remembering names). I scribbled in "8ish" for my expected run distance on the sign-in sheet, and we were off a little after 8AM.
Matt and I headed down towards the Good Times course doing about 8:30's, very nice and relaxed. There was a stiff wind with a couple good gusts to keep us honest as we made our way to the Rourke Bridge on Middlesex St. Jim and Andy were right behind us, and eventually caught us as we crossed the Rourke.
The headwind of earlier became an undetectable tailwind that pushed us to about a 7:30 pace for the boulevarde stretch of our run. Rowing crews were out on the river today, so it was nice to have a crowd to run past and through.
Jim and I held a conversation for most of the back stretch, with Jim doing most of the conversing, dishing out bite-size tidbits of Boston marathon tips, and his own success at the race. The only piece of advice that I can remember right now is to not have sex for the next week, leading into the race. I guess I'm going into a prize fight at Boston.
Andy took off and was in front of us for the remainder of my run with them. We went though miles 6 to 7 at about a 6:30 pace, trying to keep up with Jim. I felt great, and from what I could tell, Matt was enjoying himself too.
Matt and I decided to turn at the Aiken St bridge to return to home base and get in about 8 miles. Jim and Andy continued on down the VFW, so we bid a good run and waved a good bye.
We concluded the back-end of our run on the Good Times course, calling our own run, Good Times Ultra. It was exactly 1 hr and 8 miles as Matt and I stopped our watches in front of the toilet. We couldn't have planned it any better, especially the toilet part.
I didn't hang around for long after we finished the run as I wanted to grab some breakfast with Rachel, and get up to Methuen by 10:30AM to help Dave time a race.
Breakfast was at a diner close to our apt that we've never visited before (not worth it, but the whacked out patrons and arguing waitresses was definitely worth the price of admission). I dropped Rachel back at the apt around 10:15 and made my way up to Methuen.
I saw a sign for Andover as I drove up 495 and remembered that Glenn and others (like everyone else) was running the Merrimack 10 Mile Trail Race this morning. I was a little envious as I enjoy trail races, but that course can be nasty (single track out & back?!), and not recommended for those running Boston in a week. I learned that painful lesson last year when I nearly broke my ankle at the Wapack 16 Miler about a month before my Boston qualifier in Portland.
Things were a little hectic by the time I met up with Dave and Bill inside Fireside, race HQ. I helped out with some data entry and then Bill asked if I could set the clocks on the course. This required me to sit in the lead police vehicle and make my way to each mile (5 mile course), set the clocks, and take off to the next mile marker. Very cool!
My new cop buddy and I had a blast as we blew through traffic to get our task completed. With clocks set (albeit a little off from the official time), he dropped me off back at the finish, and I manned the
5K finish chute.
To my pleasant surprise, familair faces, Jonathan Morris finished 3rd overall (1st in Age), Tom O'Leary, 7th overall (1st in Age), and Jessica Costa, 20th overall, 2nd female overall, and 1st in Age Group in the 5K!! Incredible running, gang!
On the other side of the race, in the 5 Miler, another familair face and name showed up. He finished 2nd overall after not running (road running that is) for over 5 months!! Here's a little secret, his name was not what you currently see on the results when we saw the entry application;) Sorry if we blew your cover. I also gave him a ride home back to Lowell after the race, checking my rearview mirror the entire way home...
...and it was only 1PM when I got home.
I'm looking forward to the next 265 days. Good job, Fil, and I'm not being a wise-ass either.
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