Sunday Run

This week we headed out for 18.1 miles for the marathon trainers and 9.1 miles for the half marathon trainers. As the races get closer the routes stretch out longer and the water stops become more important. This was a short week for me, coming off a Tuesday return from my Florida vacation, Saturday was upon me and I had 5 water stops to plan. With some hectic last minute organizing I came up with an overly complicated plan that called for the use of four cars and six people to make sure there was Gatorade, Gu, and Snickers hidden around Saugus and Wakefield for everyone. Thanks to Nick, Walt, Joanne, Sue, and Nancy for helping pull everything together and a special thanks to Mike for providing a rolling water stop that followed runners around in every direction to ensure nobody was left thirsty.  [Note: Ed Torres will be helping out to coordinate water stops for me. Watch here for announcements earlier in the week]

March came in like a lion I guess with a Saturday storm but as we gathered for the Sunday Long Run we would be running under a bright blue sky and temps in the high 20s climbing to the 30s. What we may have underestimated, despite some accurate warnings by our weatherman Walt, was the strength of the wind and what a significant wind chill feels like. The crew headed down Main St into the wind, and approaching Ell Pond the strength of the wind became obvious. Shortly after though we had turned onto the Lynn Fells with the wind at our back and things began to feel warmer. The gusts pushed us all the way to the Saugus entrance of Breakheart giving a false sense of how easy this run would be.

After some quick sips of Gatorade and water from Mr. Quigley most headed into Breakheart for a 3 mile loop. The first half of the loop (the flat half) was plowed and for the most part dry. While I was enjoying the easy side I’m sure Linda was the decision to run through there to Mike Murphy or Judi was badmouthing me to Erin as they were the first to attempt the frozen tundra on the hilly side of the loop. As Ginny, Ana, and I got closer to the unplowed section a runner coming from the other direction said “Gilroy’s complaining about you”. Brian, Walt, and Ed were up ahead taking on the challenge of running on ice and snow now. As I trudged through the snow up the first hill I came to realize this wasn’t easy. I’ve run in worse there, but this was a close second. The middle of the path was iced over and very uneven. The sides had some loose snow that made it possible to dig your running shoes in, but underneath was ice so occasionally your feet would slide as you put weight on them. Even the scenery, accented with snow, didn’t hold enough charm this time of year to make it seem worthwhile. But in my opinion, which some would discount as crazy talk, keeping track of my footing and the constant crunching of snow distracted me from the fact that I was running through some incredibly steep hills. Before I knew it I was back at the water stop for another refresher.

The next section of the run began an hour long fight with the wind. Coming out of the northwest, a strong wind was in our faces on any road going north or west. Unfortunately the next 6 miles was all on road heading north or west. We circled around to a water stop at Wakefield High where I lost my company, Ginny headed out Nahant for a 13 mile run and Ana stopped her run due to a sore hip. I headed out alone, northbound on Montrose, and west on Rte129 and crested a hill to bring Lake Quannapowitt into view and taking the wind tunnel run to its crescendo.

To this point Nick had been running his own altered route, and Walt, well ahead of me for most of the run, had inserted an extra 2 miles somewhere. Out of the blue all three of us converged at water stop #4 at Comverse. From there Nick headed back to his car to finish a run of who knows how long, and Walt and I headed out to follow the prescribed route back to Melrose. Heading down North Ave Mike stopped by to ask where he should be heading next. I had no clue. I knew there were people still running, but didn’t know where in their routes they would be. He headed out to take attendance and did a great job keeping track of everyone.

Walt and I circle the lake over to Main St and headed south, wind finally at our back now. A short stop for water again at the corner of Nahant and Main and the wind nudged us toward the finish. Along the way a little beep from Joanne and a funny face and wave from Sue in the passenger side window brought a smile to a tired, salty, windburned face.

Back at Brueggers we swapped notes on the run. Grumbles about the ice and wind were common. The location of the waterstop cars was another hot topic. Satisfaction that another very long Long Run is behind us kept the mood light though.

For those training for Boston, there are only two runs longer than this coming up. You’re almost to Hopkinton!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Recap, Week 8. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.