Cheesey bottom crust

City Wells/Grapevine. Nice easy day.

Treasure Valley park tempo with extention south into the fields.

2 warm up then 9 then 2.1 cool down.

Legs felt good right from the start so I knew this was going to be better than last weeks tempo. I was able to fall right into a smooth pace and stayed fairly consistant the whole way. Even with the extra mile added on. The hill by the Chipmans house killed me going out and on the way back but looks like it didnt affect the times at all. Had good focus today as well which helped.

6:03,6:07,6:04,6:05,6:02,5:58,5:56,6:00,5:56

Landfill. Legs where tired today so I went slow. Dont know if Im a fan of the cold that has blown in or not.

CC/Highland/Sienna Hills. Chilly this morn. Noticed a blister on my big toe yesterday afternoon. Not sure when I got it but thats when it started bugging and it was a litlle annoying on todays run. Odd in that I think ive ever only gotten a couple in 30 years of running and those where after long downhill runs and now I get one out ouf the blue.

Coral Canyon/91. Took it easy till 9 then on the way back the wind started to blow pretty hard but as a tail wind and I hit 3 quicker miles with some rain. Then hit 1 at marathon pace but slowed after that and took it easy the rest of the way.

City Wells/Grapevine. Nice and warm out today. Body felt pretty good most of the run.

Landfill w/loop. Ok run. Twisted my ankle on the rocks by the landfill at its still sore hours later. Whoops. Also had some random right groin pain that stopped me dead in my tracks coming up Cottonmill and I had to walk the rest of the way home. Not sure what caused it but if I try and move quick its pretty painfull. Hopefully just last minute jitters but the pain says something is up.

Treasure Valley w/ext south. 2 warmup, 9 tempo, 2.2 cooldown.

 A little gun shy today with the ankle and groin thing from yesterday but the warm up seemed ok. Both were a little tight but no pain so that was a good sign and the warm up was ok.

Eased into the tempo and felt good. Not as good as last week but not bad at all. The breathing was easier and that usually means that I am slowing but today the couple times I checked the watch I was actually still on pace so I guess I might be getting a little better at this. Miles 7-8 where tough and I could tell I was slowing down from the earlier pace but I pushed hard and reminded myself this is the last one before Boston so I needed to get it done good. Last mile felt better pace wise.

5:59,5:58,5:59,5:58,6:00,6:03,6:05,6:12,5:56

Firestation+/Sienna Hills. Right groin was tight/sore for a few miles but then loosened up. Kind of a tired worn out run.

Grapevine/Firestation.

300w/Treasure Valley park. Still painful and tight in the right groin but what can you do.

Grapevine/Higland/Grapevine. Must have had the 24 hour bug cause yesterday was awful but today is much better. Didnt eat yesterday and I could tell I didnt have a ton of energy but other than that it was a good run today. Groin didnt bother either which was nice.

Grapevine/Highland. Pretty good run. Ive never tried to taper for a Monday race and after being sick and loosing a day Im not sure what I should be doing but thats how I live my life. My Boston bib number is 1338 if anyone would like to track me.

All around Back Bay in Boston in the cold wind. Not a big fan of running in big citys especially when I have no idea of the area.

Looped around a few blocks near the home we are staying at. Didnt have to cross many busy streets and most of the dogs being walked behaved themselves.

Quick report from the phone while eating post race lunch.

So not the 2:40 I was hoping for but I feel good about the result. Second fastest marathon ever and best in 4 years.

Made it up the Newton hills well but lost the legs after that and it was a battle to keep moving. Splits and more later.

1 - 6:21

2 - 6:12

3 - 6:05

4 - 6:04

5 - 6:11

6 - 6:11

7 - 6:14

8 - 6:16

9 - 6:14

10 - 6:11

11 - 6:16

12 - 6:10

13 - 6:16

14 - 6:12

15 - 6:14

16 - 5:58

17 - 6:17

18 - 6:22

19 - 6:06

20 - 6:11

21 - 6:46

22 - 6:13

23 - 6:25

24 - 6:34

25 - 6:36

26 - 6:45

.2 - 6:03

I was trying to follow everyone's advice to take it easy the first few and got a little carried away the first mile. At one point I looked down and was going 6:43. A little too slow there. Sped back up and tried to not check the watch much. I tried to keep a racing mentality more than I have in the past and that helped but I wanted to let the body decide the pace so as to not burn out early. Looks like what the body wanted was around 6:15. Slower than I had my mind set on but that's the shape I'm in. Not sure where miles 16,19 came from and it would have been fun to have kept that till the end.

The last 6 were brutal and I desperately wanted to stop but I had to keep going. Thinking of all the people who helped make this trip possible kept me moving (along with the crowds. Wow!) and I was able to speed up just a touch to finish it off.

Sadly I wasn't prepared for the wellsley portion of the course and missed my chance to kiss random strangers on the side of the road because i was on the wrong side of the road (and by the thought of getting some funky disease or having Emily remove vital body parts).

Great day for running, got a decent time and am having lots of fun seeing all the history of Boston. Great trip!

Grapevine/Sienna Hills. Not horrible but still not recovered completly. Tight quads and calves toward the end. Lower ab on right was pretty sore till about 3 then got better.

Grapevine/Sienna Hills. Same as yesterday but with the wind from hell. Right lower ab hurt the whole run pretty bad.

AM - 3 - Parkway with JD early this morning. I hate mornings but he has been wanting to run lately so Ill get my lazy butt up and help him do it. Ab was ok but its back to hurting when I sneeze and move at night. 

Lunch - 5 - Grapevine. Better run ab wise until the last .5 then it hurt just a touch. Hoping its just from being tight and a week of no running. Id like to request the wind to please not blow while im running. Thanks.