What a great morning for an 18-miler! The upside to the deluge that made my drive back from Boston last night a little dicey was a sunny, breezy, low-humidity morning that felt amazing after days of humid, sticky runs.
Thanks to bumping into senior runner extraordinaire Norm Larson at the creemee stand last week (looking fit and skinny and holding a creemee in each hand) and having a little marathoning chat (look for him at the Twin Cities Marathon this fall), I had 18 pencilled onto my calendar for today and had enthusiastically carb-loaded at yesterday's Red Sox game (who knew they sold peanut-butter-filled pretzel nuggets at Fenway? my brother and I agreed that due to their addictive nature they are best saved for long hikes and long-run eves). After talking to Norm I had looked at my calendar and been flabbergasted to see that the Green Mountain Marathon is 10 weeks away! I hadn't even thought it was time to start a 16-week training plan yet. Luckily I feel like I have some pretty good residual fitness from VCM that has been bolstered by the everyday running (though somewhat countered by creemee intake).
The 18-miler went well and made it seem the marathon will be doable after all. It was a scenic, somewhat shady and pretty flat route (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5597171) that had some well-placed water stops (Overlook, Oakledge and Waterfront parks). I concentrated on running relaxed but maybe ran a little fast (2:16).
My lesson learned from today is to try to remember to always have a little cash in my pocket on a run: this one little boy at a lemonade stand had the most beautiful excited and anticipatory smile. He just knew this hot straggling runner coming towards him was going to want to buy a lemonade. But alas, I had no money. Not only did I feel horrible disappointing him, that lemonade would have been extremely refreshing right about then!
Next up is some therapeutic carriage-road biking and ocean swimming, with some short runs in a few different Vermont towns fitted in while traveling.
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