Minuteman Trail, Lexington MA

I fiiiiiinally made it out for a run on the Minuteman Trail today, a rails-to-trails path that runs from Cambridge MA thru a few historically significant, idyllic little towns, to suburban Bedford MA. I keep meaning to go out there, but I kind of hate running in new places, where I'm not sure what the hills might be like, or if I'll be able to notice mile markers, how many people, etc. I used to rollerblade on the Minuteman trail occasionally in high school and college, and I think I may have taken my squeaky old crappy bike there once or twice, but this was my first time running there.

It was really pretty great. And hard, and hot, but I'll be back for sure, maybe next time not at noon on a sunny hot day. I busted out 8 miles, the longest I've run since my half marathon a year and a bit ago, and one of only like 3 times in my life that I've run that far.

The splits:
Mile 1: 11 min
Mile 2: 11 min
Mile 3: around 11:10 (mile markers spray-painted on the ground had worn away)
Mile 4: 12:20?
Mile 5: 16 min?
Mile 6: 12:30
Mile 7: 15:15
Mile 8: 11:15

Avg heart rate: 156, Cals burned 1450. (Including warm up and cool down)

So yeah there was some walking, and a lot of whining to myself in my head during that middle part where I got extremely overheated, couldn't get my sugary goo packet open with sweaty hands, and kind of felt like Miles 4/5 were actually more than a mile (covered the same ground, since it was 4 miles out, 4 miles back). I was going just as fast on mile 4, I think, as previously when I was maintaining almost perfectly the same 11 min/mile pace, and then I just kept going and going after 11 mins. But I walked a bunch, managed to get the goo (mocha+caffeine clif shot) open and into my mouth, and dodged many tiny kids on bikes to pick up the pace for the final mile. All in all, glorious. I was covered in dirt and salt at the end.

Tonight I'm attending the wedding of C, one of my oldest and sweetest friends, to her high school sweetheart M who she's been dating off & on for over 11 years. Wowsers. I love weddings, mainly because I'm a huge sappy dork. But this is the year of all my high school friends getting married, and even though it means I'm going to have to find new friends to go out and hit on strangers with, it's all pretty terrific, so hooray for that.

Now, vegging out in front of TV and AC. Wedding food photos later!