Date: February 27

Distance: 18 miles

Motivation: Free food and high-fives

Okay, this run was just plain fun.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to go at first, since my first 18-miler (two weeks before) had ended in very sore calf muscles and a desperate need for a tennis ball to massage out the arches of my feet.

We had a small group again – it was just Rob, my running buddy for the last 18-miler, Elizabeth, and me.  The rest of our regular group were taking the day off in preparation for running the Hyannis Half Marathon the next day.

We set out along Beacon Street, running along the marathon route in the opposite direction of how we’ll be running on Marathon Monday.  The route took us up through Brookline, down the Newton hills (including Heartbreak Hill), and out past Route 93.

Today was the day for freebies along the course!  At the 9-mile turnaround, our coach had a selection of energy gels for us to take.  Rob, Elizabeth, and I had all brought our own, but of course we grabbed a few extra for the road…. and possibly future runs too.  (Those things are expensive!)

As we climbed the Newton hills that we had just run down a half hour before, I started my weekly ritual of wondering out loud whether Heartbreak Bill would be out on the course.

Backstory: Heartbreak Bill is the mascot for the Heartbreak Hill Running Company, a running store located at the base of Heartbreak Hill.  Every few Saturdays during marathon training season, Heartbreak Bill will hang out at the base of Heartbreak Hill and will high five all the runners passing by.  I’d seen him once at the very beginning of training, but figured I would be able to grab a photo with him another weekend and kept on running.  HUGE MISTAKE.  Of course, after that weekend I never saw him again.  Every Saturday, we would run up the hill just preceding Heartbreak, and I would wonder whether he would be there…. but NO.

I started to despair of ever getting my photo.  To make things even more infuriating, Amy (one of the other runners in our regular group) had texted me the previous Saturday when I was skiing in Vermont to tell me that Heartbreak Bill was out on the course.  OF COURSE he had decided to make an appearance the one weekend I was gone.

 

Before we could got to Heartbreak Hill, though, we were waylaid by someone else:

I have no idea who this character is or what organization it’s supposed to represent, but we stopped for a photo anyway.  And gladly took the trail mix and chocolate covered pretzels the other people at the booth were offering.  😄  I was grateful I’d decided to wear my vest that day – I needed the pocket space!

We continued on, and as we crested the second of the Newton Hills, I started wondering again whether I would finally get my gorilla photo.  (Rob and Elizabeth deserve mad props for listening to all this agonizing week after week.)  And….. Hearbreak Bill was THERE!  Finally!

We finished the run strong, stopping only to pick up more food and freebies along the route home.  We made FANTASTIC time, averaging a 7:59 minute per mile pace for the entire 17.54 miles of the run!

When we got back to Joint Ventures, I unzipped my pockets, and it became very clear why I’d felt about five pounds heavier than usual during the second half of the run.  😂

We ended the run with our obligatory group photos, lots of foam rolling, and celebratory group texts!