Gorgeous weather. Running with friends. Marylou’s Almond Joy iced coffee. Beer tasting. Hawaiian pizza. I’m not sure today could get any better.
My morning started with my usual pre-long run (and race day) breakfast: peanut butter and banana on a whole wheat Sandwich Thin with a glass of iced coffee with soy milk. This breakfast never lets me down.
After breakfast, Mal and I drove to Southie to meet our running group for a 9-mile run:
”¦ from the store – up D street – past the Common – cross
over to the Charles – turn left – follow the Charles to Mass Ave – turn right – go over
the Mass Ave bridge – turn right – run towards the Museum of Science –
turn right – follow the Charles – back to the common – follow the same route
back to the store.
Confused? Here’s the full map of today’s running route.
Typically, I’m a solo runner. I enjoy running alone, but, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to run with other people– mostly because all of my running buddies live far away. But, this morning, I ran with Nick and Ashley, who pushed me to keep a faster-than-usual pace for the entire 9-mile route.
I’m surprised how much I enjoyed running with other people. I can already tell that running with these two will make me a better runner. Running with them encourages me to keep trucking along when I want to slow my pace or stop to rest. I know I can keep up with them, so I push myself to do so and run faster as a result.
Around mile 5, we stopped to refuel. I ate some Gu Chomps. We also stopped for water around mile 7.
I finished 9.25 miles in 1:22:40, which is an average pace of 8:56. I’m getting faster!
- Mile 1: 9:34
- Mile 2: 8:38
- Mile 3: 8:56
- Mile 4: 9:04
- Mile 5: 8:46
- Mile 6: 8:47
- Mile 7: 9:17
- Mile 8: 8:46
- Mile 9: 8:38
After our run, we stretched and chatted for awhile about running and upcoming races. Then, Mal and I decided to reward ourselves with No Stopping Monday shirts! We’ve both wanted one for weeks now, so we finally splurged. Maybe someday we’ll both run the Boston Marathon. Never say never!
Mal and I said goodbye to our running group and then headed straight to Marylou’s for iced coffee. It was recently “Volunteer Appreciation Week” at Back on My Feet, so they gave me a gift card to Marylou’s. Sweet!
I ordered an Almond Joy iced coffee at Marylou’s and enjoyed it while icing my bum knee on the couch and watching the Real Housewives of New York City.
I also ate a piece of leftover buffalo chicken quesadilla from last night’s dinner.
Once I iced, ate, and showered, Mal and I headed to the Annual Spring Grand Beer Tasting at Curtis Liquors. The complimentary event featured a ton of fabulous brews, including Troegs, Cisco, Innis & Gunn, Dogfish Head, Crooked Line, Victory, Haverhill, Sam Adams, Ayinger, Shipyard, Duvel, Blue Hills, Longtrail, Southern Tier, Clipper City, Sierra Nevada, Weihenstephaner, Wachusett, Mayflower, Brewery Van Steenberge, Chang, Samuel Smith, and many more.
It was awesome”” and totally packed!!!
My favorites from the tasting:
My favorite beer of the day was the Trogenator, which I bought as a six-pack to enjoy at home.
Now, Mal and I are eating Hawaiian pizza with Dave and watching the Bruins game. Well, the guys are watching the game, and I’m blogging.
Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!
