18 Miles - DONE!

I was freaking about the rain last night and this morning, but you know what? It wasn't all that bad. It was actually great! I took it slow, but this worked. I was soaked and a bit prune-y by the time I got back, but I loved the cool weather and lack of humidity. After 18 miles I felt great, as opposed to feeling horrible on my 16 miler.

I had buddies to run with (a half marathoner for the first 4 miles and then a group of two women for the majority of the remaining miles). It was nice to chat, take it easy, and feel really comfortable. Our route is Memorial Drive starting at MIT, across the BU bridge, up Beacon St., to the Reservoir near BC, and then Comm Ave to Newton, out and back. We ran up Heartbreak Hill at 10 miles! It wasn't that bad! I am sure it is really awful when you are at mile 20 but at 10 it was great. It is so exciting to run the Boston Marathon route, even without the actual, errr... marathon going on. I ran ahead of my running buddies after the reservoir and booked it back to MIT, with some gas still in the tank. Only in the last couple of miles did the rain pick up, thankfully. I am so relieved to have had an officially nice long run. Yay! Next time I'll keep the slow pace for the first 10 miles or so, but then pick it up for a longer period of time for the last half. I was definitely starting out way too fast on my now infamous 16 mile run, and this cautious approach really seemed to work this time around.

I'm a little beat and a little crampy on the right calf but nothing too serious. I'm glad it is over and I can enjoy a drink this evening... I had to abstain last night at a get-together of friends. Cheers to 18 miles!

Also - randomly one of my running buds today knows a fellow librarian I went to Simmons with (although haven't seen in a while unfortunately, I believe we would have much to chat about!). She has a really great running blog, which I very much enjoy. You should check it out. Librarian on the Run.