I Run

Hopkinton, MA is thinking about creating a Marathon Hall of Fame and Museum as part of an effort to attract and retain visitors to the town and Metro West area. Hopkinton is the starting point for the Boston Marathon, and it gets 20,000+ "visitors" on the morning of the great race. After the starting gun goes off, those visitors are gone.

Due to the weather and other scheduling conflicts, I find that recently I'm having to modify my training plan a bit. I was to run 6 recovery Tuesday, 14 today, and 6 tomorrow. But I knew we were to get a good messy storm today, so I did the 14 yesterday. Figuring that I probably wouldn't get out today (and I didn't), I did the 14 fairly hard over a course that featured 3 very sizable hills. I sure felt it in my legs afterward, but since I made today a rest day I should be good to go 10 or so tomorrow. In fact, I think my legs sometimes respond better to an alternating type of schedule where I run fairly intensely one day and take off the next. But I'm also aware of the benefits of adhering to a tried and true plan, so I do try to stick as closely to it as I can. Sometimes, though, I think it's OK to fudge it.

Yes, it's another weather post. That's the thing about running: it puts you right out into the elements. And in recent days the elements have been crappy. Yesterday I ran 11 or 12 miles in the ice, slush, and mud. I slipped up and down Sweet Pond Rd., then slid down Weatherhead Hollow Rd. I stepped into puddles that didn't look that deep before I put my foot down. Cars could not easily swerve to avoid me because of the slush, so the slush wound up all over my legs when they passed. Lovely. 20 miles tomorrow.