It seems like the closer I’m getting to the finish, the tougher these runs are getting. Today was very similar to yesterday in terms of how many hills there were. The first two runs went alright, despite the hills.
On the second run, my roommate from New Jersey, Ben Hutterer came out to join me. It was great to get to see him and have a running partner. It definitely made the run better than it would have been by myself. It was also cool to have him there because he’s kind of the one who got me to get off the couch and do this run. I mentioned the idea to him while he was asking me about my run across PA, and he encouraged me to make it happen.
After our run, we got some lunch at a local deli before Ben took off. Then I began my third run, which is easily in the top 5 worst runs. Or at least the slowest ones. Right from the start the road was awful for running. There was no space on the road, and traffic galore. So half the time I had to stop and step off the side of the road for traffic, and there wasn’t much space to get over at all. On top of that the whole way was just up and down these brutal hills. I couldn’t get into any rhythm and just felt terrible. By the last few miles I was having trouble even lifting my legs off the ground.
I took as long of a break as I could before my last run of the day. It must have helped because I went from having one of my slowest runs to having one of my fastest. Right away I could tell the difference in how I felt. I’m not sure what changed, but I was able to go along at a really solid pace the entire way and felt incredible.
I’m going to try and not complain anymore these last couple of days and instead just enjoy the little time I have left of this run. I only have two more 40 mile days ahead of me before the last day, Wednesday, which will just be a nice run through the city and to the finish line in Central Park.
Garth's Coast2Coast Run Against Cancer 