Long Day

Sunday morning and I have already been on the road for an hour or so. When I left it was misty and overcast after having rained all night. Imagine my surprise when I noticed the magnificant sun rising.

Not only did it mean My day would be a sunny one but there is something exciting about seeing the sun rise to greet your on comming day. I am on my way to Boston Ma to meet up with my son.

Our plan is to get a run in on what he described as a hill course, then drive to Dedham to catch the Patriots train to Gillett stadium. My son is a Bills fan and of course I am Patriots. I got some great seats (second row up at the goal post) and we were both excited.

My son lives in Boston and runs these streets everyday. He keeps talking about the massive hill course he devised and though it is only 3 miles, he usually runs it twice then a cool down.

He describes this long hill making up the total of mile one and then a huge hill at the begginning of mile two. After acomplishing that the last mile is rolling and down hill. I felt pretty confident when we started out as I run a pretty good size hill at home and I didn't figure this would compare.

Well, the first thing that I noticed, is the cement was so hard. we had to run mostly on the sidewalk because of traffic and the cement seemed so ungiving especially since I run 60% on trails.

The first mile was dragging me down and my legs definately remembered the 5 miles I ran yesterday morning. I could feel the rustiness of my current condition. I sucked it up though and managed to weather the storm of a first mile all up hill. Total grade according to the garmen was 6% which is not too shabby when running on sidewalks.

I was just starting to feel I was warming up and catching some breath when we hit the botton of "the hill". This was a monster of a hill that rose 8% leveled at a road crossing then jumped up to 12% grade. Damn, this was a big hill! Watching for traffic half way up really sucks when all my body wanted to do was find some oxygen somewhere.

I was so glad to crest that hill. Though it was similar in grade as the Oakhill that I run, it was actually a little shorter overall. The thing that made this tough was the constant uphill grade for a mile preceeding and the break in stride at the road crossing half way up. That and my dead legs from yesterdays run.

The slight level and down hill grade of the next half mile was nice and once my breath caught up with me, I let me son know he was right, that hill does suck.
The finish was great as it was a quarter mile downhill. I felt so good, I almost opted for a second loop.

I knew I would be on my feet alot and it was going to be a long day at the game so I'm actually glad I didn't attempt a second loop. We went back to the apartment, grabbed a shower, hit Dunkin Donuts for a much needed coffe then headed for Dedham.

The idea of parking in Dedham and taking the train to the game ended up being a very smart one. The parking was only two dollas and the train twelve dolloars round trip. Much cheaper than parking at the stadium and no traffic to worry about.

The game was fantastic and our seats row 2 behind the goal posts were amazing. I am sure we were on tv a couple times and if only they didn't put up that net, we could have caught one of the fieldgoal balls.

We had a lot of fun and even though I was excited about the game, my son was a little bummed because he was rooting for the Bills. It felt good to get on the train and not have to fight hours of traffic after the game. I just sat down and
relaxed....my feet enjoyed that!

I then watched the sun go down as I had visions of so long ago (this morning) watching the same sun rise. It seemed like a different day all together. Some days are just destined to be a good memory.

Saturday: 5 mile run:
8:57 pace
drizzle and overcast.

Sunday: Damn hill 3 mile run
9:03 pace
Sunny with a chilly breeze