Wednesday, March 25, 2009

It's springy out there!

At last! Being able to run with only one layer and not even a jacket is such a long forgotten luxury. Surely the removal of all that extra weight and motion restricting long pants will result in a bonus 15-20 sec per mile. And then there's the incentive of the crowds which I have to admit can be both good and bad. When you're having a good day (or early in the race) they just push you along even faster that you might intend but then when things go bad and you'd like to just crawl away or stop, then there is no place to hide. Amby Burfoot, winner of the 1968 Boston marathon puts it "Every runner loves the crowds at Boston, and the crowds seem to love every runner".

You might be able to tell that I'm starting to get a little bit excited. I've done this many (nine) times before but every year the excitement returns and the long hard winter of training seems to be suitable penance for such a wonderful event. It certainly keeps you honest when you're into the middle of an interval workout like I was today (see my training log sidebar). Doing 4x1200m repeats at 5k pace/effort during a 10 miler on tired legs wasn't exactly my idea of fun but you do it. The workout went well and it's one more hard effort out of the way with just a handful left as I begin to wind down .

Aaaa Boston!! The website sent me an email today reminding me it was 26.2 days to go (as if I didn't know)! Have a nice week.

4 comments:

Deb said...

Yeah, I'm getting excited too!! I can't believe how fast it's coming! Well done with the great workout today! I just got back from a really tough one too...10x600m hills but it felt great! :)

Michael said...

That's a tough w/o, good thing you are starting to get excited. Three weeks Monday, the time is flying by!

Ewen said...

At least 15-20 seconds per mile by my reckoning.

Pretty good speed on those 1200s - just try to reverse that slowing trend at Boston. Maybe imagine running faster to get away from Andrew's jokes... the bad ones ;)

Unknown said...

Glad to hear the weather is getting better for you. Just a few more weeks to Boston!