22 and feeling good all around

Not 22 years, but 22 miles with 22 days left till the marathon. That's what I ran Saturday as my final long run before the tapering starts. Per the order of the winter, it was snowing the entire run. (I read somewhere that it has snowed 10 weekends in a row here in Boston. Must be another record!)

This was by far one of the coolest experience. I headed out to Hopkinton bright and early Saturday morning - my nerves were a mess and I could barely eat. I managed to shove down a banana and this awesome honey vanilla waffle thing that Dave picked me up! This was my last opportunity to try new foods and see how I reacted before the big day.

To this point, I'd been sticking to simple sugars and nothing processed. I've had bad experience with GU and gels in the past and so far my regimen of banana, bread w/ sunflower butter and Annie's Bunnies in Berry Patch or Summer Strawberry (yup - the kids snacks) have fueled me pre and during run. A little bit of Gatorade and I've got a winning combination.

I wasn't expecting much out in Hopkinton. I knew a bunch of folks who would be running on the course that day. As the past Saturdays have gotten increasingly busy, I expected a good crowd. But with many running the Eastern States 20miler on Sunday, coupled with the forecast of 1-3", who knew what we'd see.

This was better then most races I attended. I parked in a local grocery store lot (who offered their spaces to runners) and followed the crowds. There were port-a-johns at the starting line and police manning the intersections. A nice officer gave me "directions" (cross the street and look down - you'll see the painted start line. Don't forget to run on the left!) and off I went with the crowds in a rolling start.

They weren't kidding when friends warned it was downhill for the first 6 miles. It was screaming downhill - hard to not get off my pace. I definitely went a little faster than normal, but really worked at holding steady around 8:00mm. Every mile or so there was at least one if not more groups camped out offering water, gatorade and other energy sources. It was amazing.

I hooked up somewhere around Framingham center with 2 runners from Children's Hospital. I overheard them talking about their pace/finishing times and had been lingering with them for a bit. We proceeded to work together, talk and encourage each other for the next 15 miles. I waited up for them during a bio-break in Wellesley, we talked each other up the hills and learned a lot about each other in the process. The guy was a neurologist at Children's and has 3 kids - two the same ages as Sophia & Theo. The girl graduated BC in '12 (whipper snapper! :) and worked over at MIT. Both were great running partners and our hope is to hook up again on race day, as we're in the same corral & wave. We exchanged numbers and took this selfie as we crossed Mile 21 (their end point for the day).

I feel fortunate to have found them - I think we all made the run a lot easier for each other and took our minds off the lackluster conditions and nerves.

Dave & Sophia met me at Boston College and drove me back out to my car in Hopkinton. There were still 1,000s of people on the course. It was amazing to see, and even more amazing to be done and drying off.

Here's to the next 21 days!!