A Tough Day

Similar to last week's run, I hoped to get through this morning's group run and not feel bad.  I completed the run, but not the mileage that I was hoping to hit.  The first few miles went well and though I noticed that my left side and ribs were not 100%, they were not bothering me much.  After we started to hit the downhills of the run, our pace picked up and a few miles later, my side was aching.  I hoped to complete ~16 miles today, but cut it short and turned back at the 5 mile mark.  On my way back to our starting point, I started to feel better and decided to add another 2 miles in.  12 miles on a Sunday morning wasn't bad and after slowing down on the back 1/2, my ribs felt better.  I'll have to back the pace down in the upcoming days, but at least I can run.

The week ahead should include a speed workout on Tuesday and a tempo workout on Thursday, before 14 miles (hopefully!) on Saturday.  I'm not sure whether these will go as planned, but hopefully I can get some miles in this week.

Fundraising is going strong and we're nearing the 1/2 way point to $15,000!  We've raised over $6,500 to date and as a team, DFMC2018 has raised more than $1.5M thus far.  All of this will benefit innovative cancer research at Dana-Farber!  Thanks for the support and let's keep it going!

14 Miles Down

This weekend's run was one of those where the goal was to just get through it.  Backing up a little, while I was jogging on Tuesday evening to warm up before some speed work, I clipped a foot on an uneven section of sidewalk.  After a quick stumble, I went down on my left side and left elbow.  I was able to get up and continue the run, though I've felt sore on my left side since.  As a result, I chose to run from home on Saturday morning.  I was able to run the 14 miles that I aimed for, though I didn't feel great during it.  Hopefully the lingering effects of Tuesday's stumble disappear soon.  This coming week I'll continue the speed work on Tuesday, add some mileage on Thursday and the DFMC weekend run will be ~16 miles. As January wanes down, our training is definitely picking up.

Hills are Hard!

This past Saturday was the first DFMC group run of 2018 as the previous weekend's run was canceled due to the 15" of snow dumped on us on Jan 4.  It was great to see numerous teammates that I've run with over the years and great to feel the camaraderie that exists between team members.  We're all motivated by similar circumstances, running in honor of or in memory of family and friends and hoping to help DFMC make a difference.

This first run as an interesting one.  Having run the Boston Marathon with DFMC from 2012-2016, I have run the hills of Newton many many times.  Taking 2017 off though, apparently I forgot exactly what to expect on the hills.  Luckily I had good company along the 12 miles and the company and conversation helped me forget about those pesky hills. Weather-wise, the day was also an odd one.  We started the run with temps in the upper 50Fs and a warm SW wind.  As we turned around at the 1/2 way point, we noticed the weather changes - a temp drop to ~40F and a now bitter wind from the NW, brrrrr.  Overall though, I was happy with the run and felt good throughout.  It was my first double-digit run of the season, though as a friend pointed out, 10 miles would have been sufficient to be double digits :)  I was a bit tired the rest of the day, but it just made it easier to stay home, have a beer & watch the Pats game.

This week will begin speed workouts and I'll aim for ~14 miles this coming weekend.