And that's a wrap

I like nothing more than a good mix of planned stuff and days of no plans for the weekend. It allows for socializing and also plenty of down time & relaxation. This weekend was just that. I took advantage of the last of my Friday summer hours by meeting up with Steph & Mike at Blind Tiger for some tasty beers and then continuing on to Pearl Oyster Bar for an overflowing lobster roll. YUM!!!

On Saturday I got out for a nice 7.6 miles on the bridle path of CP including a couple loops around the reservoir and then Jason & I headed to Princeton for a friend's end-of-summer party. We sat outside, enjoyed the country-like atmosphere and took in the tunes of Eddie Elliot. Except for being eaten alive by mosquitoes, it was a very enjoyable night.

Sunday was all about relaxing, hydrating and getting myself ready for the 20K in New Haven. I got out for 4 miles with 8 x 100 strides to loosen up the legs and get myself in a GO! position for the next morning.

Wanting to treat New Haven like a mini-Chicago marathon, I woke around 4:00 a.m. and prepped myself for the race and travels to CT. I ate a couple pieces of toast with bananas and drizzled honey, packed my bag and headed off for Grand Central. A few hours later and I was jogging around, stretching and prepping for the start. Bob and I met up in the green and were searching around for Trevor when we decided we'd better line up - we could find Trev afterwards. Definitely lined up too far back as the congestion was a little too irritating for me and forced a lot of dodging and grumbling. Got into the groove after that first mile but realized pretty much immediately that I'd have to find a porta-potty in the next mile or two. I'm 99.9% sure the culprit was some nasty water that I'd consumed both the day before and that morning, coming from a disposable water bottle refilled one too many times. I even knew something was funky tasting while drinking it but I feared the dreaded D word. Dehydration. Dang it! Anywho, here's what went down along the course:

mi 1: 8:31 (I definitely started too far back, ugh)
mi 2: 8:01
mi 3: 7:50
mi 4: 8:42 (first porta-potty stop )
mi 5: 8:05
mi 6: 8:36 (damn! gi distress is creeping up again)
mi 7: 9:08 (second porta-potty stop)
mi 8: 8:41
mi 9: 8:35
mi 10: 8:54 (got way too chatty here with Emmy*)
mi 11: 8:08
mi 12: 8:01
mi .54: 4:02

1:45:16 (8:28/mi) finish time

*Emmy is an unbelievably swift runner and personal heroine of mine. She's 50 and smokes up both road races and ultra marathons. She'd raced the 5K (20:23) that morning and was running the 20K course to get some extra miles in. We'd run together at Meredith's ultra earlier this summer and found one another somewhere in mile 9.

So no PR but I still felt I got a lot out of the race. I felt very strong despite the digestive track issues and I experienced zero mental hiccups. I took in a gel sometime around mile 6 and think that gave me a nice lift for the later miles. Overall, a positive experience on the road to Chicago. Next up in less than two weeks, Reach the Beach!