Day 16: Fine day for a race

It was warm, but not too warm -- humid, but mostly as a refreshing mist. (In fact, a "dense fog advisory" was in effect.) Nice day to go for a little run along the Charles River with more than a thousand of my closest friends.

Hauled the Boneshaker out of the basement to ride to the starting line of the New Charles River Run -- this bike instead of the Roubaix, since I don't need the shoes with the cleats to ride it. Same strategy I employed on April 6 for the five-miler; plus, with the milk crate on the back, I thought I might actually stop at the supermarket on the way home... and indeed I did, although the Whole Foods staff seemed mildly annoyed at me because, even though soaked in sweat and still wearing my bib and finisher's medal, I availed myself of all the cheese samples on offer. Well, what would you have done?

Kevin ran part of the 7.5-mile race with me, and so did Rachael, and I also spotted the redoubtable Mister Roberts. The purpose of today was mostly motivation -- I didn't need to run hard; this was just another long run for me, actually another Longest Run Ever. But I felt good and I was in good spirits, and I couldn't help myself -- I began to speed up after mile 3. My watch says I finished in 1:06:18, but the organizers must have cheaped out because the official results only show my "gun time," 1:06:55. Whatever! I had plenty left in the tank and I didn't reach maximum speed until the finish line.

For the first time during a race, I quaffed some water and Gatorade at the rest stops (spilling most of it on myself, because I didn't want to stop), and I also tried my first "goo," in this case a Hammer-Gel Vanilla. Not too bad, and 90 vital calories. According to my most recent computations (two minutes ago), the marathon will suck up something like 3,500 calories, and since I'm not going to carry 40 packets of goo with me, I guess I'll need to figure something else out. All part of the training.