Notes
Gorgeous day in Boston. Drove up from NY to Woodland Station near Newton. Took credit card and money and ran last ten into Boston - covering the three Newton Hills. Felt great today compared to yesterday. Tried to go easy pace but the legs wanted to roll. Not much effort either. So I turn Right on Hereford and see Boylston all blocked off to traffic, I get to Boylston and make a left and ahead I see a parade. Everyone is waving Greek Flags. Marching bands, and 1000's of people on both sides of the street. The sides of the road on both sides are fenced off and there is no where to go but to join the parade. So here goes Theoharides the Greek running along side of floats playing Greek music and frenzied crowds waving flags and yelling out Greek phrases and, yup, cheering me on. Is this a dream? I start laughing as I pass float and band after band. I cross the finish line and still have about .5 to go... Still no way off the course due to the fencing, so what the heck, I just keep running amongst the parade, weaving in and out of groups of Greek children and priests and bands until I make the left turn by Boston Common. Finally a break. I figured someone was going to get mad at me, instead I guess they figured I was Phidipedes. Luckily I didn't die at the end! Pace was supposed to be 8:49... oh well. Good to preview the hills again. They seem pretty easy two miles into the run... If I can save my legs through the first 16 miles downhill maybe they won't seem too ominous.
Last long week of training. Hanson, finally starts to taper with 10 days till race. To date 812 miles in this training cycle.
Check out map for elevation profile.