Chilling Thoughts of Long Cold Winter Runs

I received a lovely postcard from my friends at the Boston Athletic Association. Just friendly note from them to say, 'Hello', 'How've you been?', 'We'd love to have you join us again for that little marathon-thingy we do every April.' Of course, I paraphrase. Here are their actual words.

I hate to disappoint...they're such nice people...and it was such fun last year, so I guess I'll do it again.

The search for a room in the back bay area is not going well. I've tried all of the guest houses in the area, and all are fully booked for marathon weekend. A few of the area hotels have rooms available, but the rates are crazy, $279 to $600 a night. I'm going to have to look for a place further from town, as close as possible to public transportation.

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An painful dental issue cut into my mileage this week. Sunday afternoon, one of my wisdom teeth began aching. By Sunday night, it was too painful to allow me to sleep. On Monday, my dentist was able to squeeze me in during my lunch hour. He determined that we should yank that sucker out. So, he gave me a shot of Novocaine, clamped down on it and gave it a big tug. POP! Really, it wasn't too bad. Later that afternoon, the Novacaine wore off and I was having trouble concentrating. By the time I left work around five o'clock, the hole in my jaw did not feel too good. I was in no condition to go for a run, and in fact, I had to skip my Tuesday run as well. I felt bad about that since Tuesday is speed-work day, so on Wednesday, when I was feeling a bit better, I did the hilliest 8.5 mile tempo run I have ever done, and managed to average a 7:10 pace. On Thursday, I backed off a bit and did 5.5 miles at a moderate pace.

By the way, I still haven't decided what I am going to do with the five and a half months between now and Boston. I did begin rereading my copy of "Advanced Marathoning", and I am seriously considering making a commitment to the 'More than 70 Miles per Week' schedule. It is a 24 week program (so I am already behind schedule), and would require a ridiculous amount of training through the fabulous northeast Ohio winter. Makes me giddy to think of it.