bring on the taper!

and not a moment too soon!!

capped off my last peak week, 41 miles, with the Staten Island Half meant to be run around marathon pace-ish....close enough...

Mile	Split	Mile	Split
1	8:46	8	9:21
2	8:32	9	8:54
3	8:46	10	8:52
4	8:50	11	9:00
5	8:56	12	8:57
6	8:44	13	8:24
7	8:43	.1	:47

Final time of 1:55:32, 8:49 pace. I guess technically it's a PW but I really don't want to count it as such since I was not racing it.

Some notes on the race today...

• Was very underwhelmed by the course-now that I've done halfs in all 5 boroughs, Queens will continue to always be my favorite.
• Miles 6 and 7 were fun as that was where the turnaround was so I could see runners going in the other direction and cheer them on. And thanks to the Flyers who cheered back, and to the 4 Rez Dog guys who were cheering for me too :)
• Mile 8 had a hill that was a bigger bitch than I am.
• The Mile 12 point psyches you out, because you can see the finish area, and at that point, you just wish you were there...
• The song I am listening to now is one of the coolest songs to have playing on your iPod when sprinting to the finish.
• Weather was nice-would have been perfect marathon weather with a little less sun and a lot less wind (the NYRR site is full of sh*t...3 mph wind, my a$$! I felt like we were running into a headwind the entire time.)
• Good thing about the shorts I bought the other day: they felt at times like I was wearing nothing. Bad thig about the shorts: they felt (and probably looked) at times like I was wearing nothing. (My teammate who bought the same ones had the same consensus.) Can't wait to see the Brightroom piccys for this one...
• The 8:30 am ferry was a mob scene. As a result, exiting the ferry was a mob scene. And I'm sure baggage was a mob scene. I'm sure quite a few people missed the start (or maybe not, looked like it was delayed 10 minutes.)

So not too shabby considering I did 15 on Saturday, right?

Not kidding there. My coach's reasoning behind it...total weekend mileage is only 2 more than last weekend-it's just broken down more evenly. It would be a good strength-building weekend, as long as I took it easy. And you know what? He was right.

Anyway, yesterday was the Flyers' annual Fall Foliage Run through Croton-on-Hudson and around the Croton Reservoir. (I actually recognized a couple of the roads and landmarks from the Need For Speed relay!) Was a pretty run, with the leaves changing colors. I took it very easy, which was not too hard to do since parts of the run is on the road and I was trying to follow directions I was given. The organizers and volunteers once again did a great job (there was a water/Gatorade stop every 3 miles-nice to break the run up like that.)

So whereas 15 miles would have did me in for the weekend a few months ago, I was still able to get a good run in today. Granted, not a PR effort (and that was his reasoning for scheduling this weekend...to ensure that I wouldn't race the half!), but 13.1 quality miles in the bank...and surprisingly, not feeling sore at all (but I bet I will tomorrow!)

I think I can do this, kids.

now playing: "think about the way" ~ ice mc