Distance: 14.4 miles

Temperature: 37° F, “RealFeel” 17° F

Motivation: Drinking all the cider during a cider house crawl that afternoon with my girls Catrina and Jamie

This run was filled with a lot of firsts for me!  The most notable first, of course, was running farther than I ever had before in one go.  My previous record was 13.25 miles, a little longer than a half marathon.

Another first was running in pouring rain.  Under normal circumstances, I would walk to the gym fully outfitted in rain gear and work out there — if I didn’t just roll over and go back to sleep.  But not today!  I admit was sorely tempted to just do the long run on my own on a nicer day.  But, remembering that the weather had been equally horrid during last year’s marathon (steady rain and 15 MPH headwinds the whole time), I decided it would be better to get used to it now and figure out some strategies to deal with weather like this.

Kenmore Square, pre-run

Still, this is pretty much how it went down at 7:30 when I had to leave to go meet my training group:

The run started off pretty well.  After a few miles, though, the rain had soaked through everything and Coach John’s advice of the day (“Just watch out for puddles”….. thanks, Coach) was pretty much irrelevant.

Still, it was heartening to see how many people were out training that morning!  Our group was definitely smaller than usual, but at least we weren’t out there alone – there were other training groups out there, including Dana Farber and DreamFar.  (Gotta say, nothing will motivate you to buckle down and get your a$$ up to the top of Heartbreak Hill than watching a bunch of high schoolers trotting along beside you.)

We were cheering each other on and swapping occasional high fives, spraying the water that was dripping from our jackets everywhere in the process.  The “we’re all in this together” vibe was fantastic.

I even managed to work up a grin for you all.  🙂  Here I am at mile 12.1, with only 2.3 miles to go:

The best part?  Peeling off all those layers of soaked-through clothes after the run was over (I’m always surprised at how heavy clothes get when they’re dripping wet), taking a hot shower, and collapsing into bed for a nap.

Today I’m taking it easy!  Maybe a little yoga with my favorite teacher Renée, but otherwise, I’m just going to enjoy this long weekend.  🙂

Cheers,

Denise