25 K

Finished the Boston Buildup 25k. I deliberately did not wear my watch during the race, for two reasons: one, I was worried my glute pain wouldn't allow me to go as fast (or, maybe I should say, as slow) as usual, and I just didn't want to stress out about that; and two, I was scared of the course profile (which was basically 8 miles uphill, 8 miles downhill) and figured I needed to listen to my body to survive it. Turns out the glute was ok, it hurt but I don't think I can blame it for my lack of speed (I did about a 9:09 pace, which would actually be acceptable, though barely, for my sub-4-hour marathon, so it was good to FEEL that pace...it felt slow, though difficult). And not knowing that I was going too slow, not being able to check my watch and do the mental calculations, did make the run more pleasant. I enjoyed looking for the mile markers on the road (though I missed 14, which incited mild panic), I enjoyed chatting a little with a couple other runners, I enjoyed feeling like my body and I were in it together, instead of my fighting it. Not that some of it didn't suck. But the end makes it all worth it...oh yeah, THAT's why I chose to run for 2 and a half hours outside on a windy, cold day. Because I can, and it feels good to know that. Right. Plus I got lucky and had the best post-race massage ever from Jen from the CT School of Massage Therapy. She kept me there over twice as long as the other therapists were keeping their "patients." God bless them for doing that.