The title of the blog post says it all ... apparently unlike most people who celebrate their birthdays for a day, my 30th birthday turned out to be a week long celebration. It started with a surprise party, work happy hour, celtics game, and nice dinner out with friends. Throw into the mix ... Snowmaggedon 2011 which dropped about 18 inches of snow on South Boston and it is a perfect recipe for disaster.
Thankfully through all the festivities and the blizzard that dropped 1.5 feet of snow on Boston, I was able to get in two runs. With 18 inches of snow on the ground, the decision always comes ... is it better to run inside on a treadmill or brave the elements and run outside on sidewalks / roads that could be poorly shoveled. I figured running out side is always better when you can do it, so that is what I decided to do. I suited up in all the winter gear and started my run.
My first short run was in the dark and didn't get off to a great start. I originally started on the sidewalk, but multiple sections were poorly shoveled and covered in ice which leads to a lot of walking and risk of fall. I decided to bump into the road and just run along the snow banks, which turned out to be a good decision. I ended up having a great 3.5 mile run ... staying mostly on well plowed, low traffic volume streets. The only problem with this run is that after it I was having a little soreness in my left knee. I think it is just from poor running form given the ice and the fact that I am having some pain on the top of my foot where the laces come across it. Not quite sure why the laces started giving me pain, but it only happens in my running sneakers.
The second short run ... was not nearly as good as the first. It started out great and I was able to bust out about 2.25 miles in 20 minutes (pretty good pace for me). I was still having that pain on the top of my left foot from my shoe lace, and tried a bunch of things to get it to go away - loosening the laces, putting a little padding under them, etc ... but nothing worked. I just decided to rough it out but shortly after I got to the 2.75 mile mark, that left knee started getting a little bit sore again. The last 1.25 miles was plagued with periods of walking due to traffic, stopping because that knee was sore and walking over icy patches. In total I completed just under 4 miles in 40 minutes (despite my great start) ... which was pretty disappointing. I decided it was better to end the run early (I had planned on doing 5-6 miles), and coming home and icing down the knee. Again, I think its just sore from bad form over ice / snow and this lace thing ... but I wanted to play it safe as I have a 13 mile run coming up in 2 days!!!
On a good note, I did see the best sunset I have ever seen over Castle Island. It looked like the sky was on fire with a pink / orange tint over the snow covered park with the water being completely calm. I really wish I had the Nikon with me to snap a picture of it because it was definitely amazing. I actually may go back tomorrow night with the camera just to see if I can get a picture of it.
Anyway .... 13 miles in 2 days. It will officially be the longest distance I have ever run. Wish me luck.
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