Week 2: Boston

I don't have a lot to say about what happened yesterday at the Boston Marathon.  It was tragic and horrible.  After spending the early afternoon watching the race at Chestnut Hill Ave (between mile markers 22 and 23) I was on my way to meet my runner at the finish area when I started to realize something bad had happened.  I spent a scary 20 min or so walking through Back Bay with an uncharged cell phone, emergency vehicles and personnel everywhere, and no idea how bad things were or where in the last miles of the course my boyfriend had been when the explosions occurred.  But we were lucky, and neither of us had made it to Boylston -- my Green Line train had stopped at BU East and he was stopped on the course before the Mass Ave underpass, less than a mile short of crossing his first marathon finish line.  It was a disappointing, unbelievably sad end to what should have been a great event on a happy day.  But I'm incredibly thankful that all of our friends and family members are safe and were quickly accounted for.  Thank you to everyone who called/texted/emailed/facebooked to check on me, and to the nice doorman who let me charge my phone in his building's lobby so I could get some information and let everyone know I was ok.  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by yesterday's events, especially those who were injured or killed and their families and friends.  While there are a lot of questions and very few answers at this point, one thing we know for sure is that there will be more races -- we will keep running, and we will keep cheering for friends, family members, and total strangers.  So with that in mind, on to a recap of last week's training (including the B.A.A. 5K on Sunday) and a preview of what's on the schedule for the week ahead.

Last week's total mileage:

Swim -- 1.5 mi

Bike -- 46.5 mi

Run -- 14.6 mi

We also had our first crew practice on the water on Tuesday, which was a fun extra workout. Like last week, I was completely exhausted most of the time I wasn't working out.  But this week I wasn't hungry all the time (even lost my appetite for a while) and actually started to feel tired in some of the workouts, especially the last swim.

Eating most of this ridiculous ice cream cake may have had something to do with me never wanting to eat again

Once again, the highlight of the week was Sunday's race, this time the B.A.A. 5K.  But first I should back up to Saturday, which started with a trip to the marathon expo for number pickup before my afternoon 25 mile trainer ride.

Race bib!

Believe it or not I actually didn't spend any money at this one

But I did manage a sneaky Ryan Hall photo

And picked up my already-paid-for race shirt

I wasn't expecting much from the race, since a) I hate 5Ks and b) my legs were already exhausted.  But I'd had an amazingly fast 3+ mile run on Friday, so I decided go for it anyway.  I lined up at the beginning of the 9 min pace group and started running.  And somehow a slightly sub-9 pace didn't feel too bad!  J was waiting for me at the corner of Charles and Beacon, and snapped this amazing action shot before I shoved my unneeded (but totally awesome) polka dot running jacket at him.

Running is fun!

The course was pretty crowded, and I never really had room to run until the last quarter mile, at which point I felt like I was going to puke if I pushed the pace any harder.  I even stopped at the first water station (which I never do these days) because I hadn't had anything to drink that morning and the pack slowed down so much going through I figured I might as well get some water out of it!  Bottom line was that the second mile (including the water break) was a bit slower but overall I held on to the pace for my second-fastest 5K ever with an official time of 28:01.

Thankful for a happy memory of crossing this finish line

The splits were slightly off because my gps picked up some significant extra distance with all the turns on the course, which was too crowded to run tangents very well.  But I'm pretty happy with them.

Then after a quick stop to change into a dry shirt and scarf a chocolate chip bagel and bottle of Gatorade (yummy!) I jogged the four-ish miles back to Cambridge, changed into my swimsuit, and went to the pool for an exhausted 1000 yd swim.  After which I met one of my best friends (who was in town for the marathon and is a super awesome runner) for a 2+ hour brunch, and then met up with J and friends for a pre-marathon pasta dinner.  It was an exhausting but wonderful day.

Coming up this week, more of the same, with slight mileage increases.

I had mixed feelings about whether to join #runforboston with a run today.  At first I wanted to stick to the plan and just ride my bike.  To not let this horrible event disrupt my training in any way.  But then was driving down Storrow Dr when I saw a runner in a yellow Boston Marathon shirt on the Esplanade and I almost started sobbing in my car.  I wanted to be out there.  So I compromised.  I rode the trainer for the planned 40 minutes (sprints and all), and then took my new B.A.A. shirt for a run around the block.  I know it didn't change anything, but it felt pretty good.

Sweaty Selfie!