Off to the Country...

The Baltimore Half Marathon is one week from today. At 10:30 next Saturday, I better be 15 miles from the end of my race- probably somewhere between mile 11 and 12. So this morning, I laced up my asics and did the last of my "long" runs. But this was the shortest of all the long. I ran seven miles and felt good.

I ran Mass Ave out and back, just like I did last Saturday but this time I only did 3.5 miles each way. My plan was to go out slowly and I did at first. But what has felt "slow" in the past felt too slow today. So I just ran what felt natural. I ran more slowly uphill and more quickly down. And I averaged 9:18 minutes per mile overall. That pace doesn't beat my goal speed but, for a slower, taper run, it'll definitely do.

There are many words I could write about this run. Like how gorgeous the fall air and orange(ish) trees were, how cool it was at first and how hot at the end, how I passed some seemingly strong and fast runners and was far surpassed by others, how I ate a blackberry gu at mile 3.5 and thought it was pretty disgusting, or how many people I saw walking to synagogue for Yom Kippur and how I wondered what they thought of my drinking water on my run.

But I'm in a big hurry, as I'm being picked up in about twenty minutes for my friend Julie's birthday weekend extravaganza in the Virginia countryside. We are going apple and pumpkin picking, wine tasting, hiking, and then spending the night at her parents country mountain house where we'll eat a ton, drink wine, and chill by a bonfire.

So I'm off. Happy Birthday Julie and happy one week until Baltimore!! And, of course, GO GATORS!

 What are your plans on this beautiful fall weekend?