Met up with Ferenc at 5ish down the road in Ballston Lake. It ended up being a 2 door gold Tacoma rather than the 4 door silver Tacoma as the guy described. Bummer. Convinced Ferenc not to get it since it wasn't what he wanted. It was a great deal, but not the exact truck.
Back to the house to chill and change up for a run. Ferenc ended up driving back to Vermont around 7pm. I headed out for 8.5+ miles (59:58) plus a 6 x parking lot strides post run. 12.5 miles on the day.
September 28th (Saturday): Early wakeup around 6:15am. Packed up the bags for Leominster and on the road by 7:15am. Arrived at my sister's house just before 10am. Out for a quick 3.5 miles (22:27). Back to stretch, foam roll, and shower up.
Into Worcester for bridesmaid dress shopping. Yayy! Appointment around 11:30am. I thought they were gonna be at one store for a while so I headed to the bank with my mom's car. It ended up being a short visit so it was somewhat hectic to get back to them. Into Boston for some more bridesmaid dress shopping. Some window shopping as well. Stopped for food at Joe's American Bar and Grill. Chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso. Fresh bread with butter. Buffalo chicken mac and cheese (see below). Banana cream pie for dessert.
Bombdiggity.
Home by 7pm or so. Changed up and headed out for a 2nd run around 7:45pm. 5 miles (38:34). Lots of walking and standing throughout the day so my legs were sorta tired. The mac and cheese was sitting real heavy the whole run and I felt like I was gonna throw it up. Held it down.
Bed by 11pm. Tucker slept with me out in the living room on the air mattress the whole night.
September 29th (Sunday): 5:45am wakeup. Bathroom. Oat bran with milk and brown sugar. On the road by 6:15am. Arrived at the race venue by 8:10ish. Inside to register and back to the car to organize my shiznit. Warm up at 8:25am. 3 miles total (2.5 miles, then another 0.5+ mile to the starting line). Some strides and light stretching before a 9am start.
Vroom!
In the words of Beyonce: To the left, To the left!
I saw my competition was cut out for me from the showing of Kenyans/Africans. Off the line well and felt out the early race strategy. Lead the 1st half mile or so. Chilled out and let them swarm me. Downhill 1st mile. In the group through in 4:54. The Africans communicated to each other in another language and threw in a couple surges. I covered the first one and held on for the 2nd one. Once we hit the first uphill section, it strung out and turned into a hammerfest. I moved into 3rd place, but once we hit the next downhill section. Gone. All three of them. Left me in 4th place by myself. ARE Racing Team member Jamie caught me around 3 miles. Woke me back up. Back into a groove and followed right behind him. Passed him with confidence just before 5 miles on an uphill and said we needed to work together. Charged through the last mile up the hill and could see 3rd place. Ran out of real estate and finished up in 32:00 flat for 4th place.
Back to the car to change up and cool down by running the course all over again. 7 miles (48:59). I realized there was maybe 2 fast miles overall on the course. The first one and the 5th mile. Everything thing else had uphill or turns (or both). Happy with the effort and final race before Hartford. After the awards and texting Goup, the guy who won ran for AIC and ran 24:0x at Franklin Park. The guy who finished 2nd won the Hartford Marathon last year in 2:15:xx. I don't feel so slow (haha).
Out to lunch with a few buddies before driving back to NY. Home by 2:15pm or so. Crashed hard in bed for about 3 hours. 3pm-6pm. Woke up in a haze to head downstairs to sit on the couch for the remainder of the night. Snacked and decided to not shakeout a few miles in the evening. 89 miles for the week for the start of the taper. A couple weeks left until the marathon.
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