Meb Is Awesome and I Am Old

AM: NYC Marathon
PM: 8 miles
2x20 water pump extensions=80

So, today I turned 27. This is significant, as I believe it officially marks the end of my mid-20s and the beginning of my late-20s. Essentially, I am almost 30. While this thought is not one I greet with any particular enthusiasm, I do have to say that as far as birthdays go this one was pretty great. Though I didn't do anything super spectacular or exciting, after a crazy week of work and school it was just what I needed.


The cougar with her prey

The morning started off early with a screening of the NYC Marathon. Jordan already did a thorough job of recapping this experience, so I'll link you to his blog for the details. Simply put, Meb ran amazingly. So did our friend Pat Tarpy...for about 35k. At any rate, it was a lot of fun to nerd out with Tanya, Sean and Jenna and spend a few hours watching history unfold. (By the way, the last time an American won NYC before today was in 1982...which was the year of my birth. And now Meb wins on my birthday. Coincidence? I think not. You're welcome, America.)

By the time the race concluded and we'd grabbed a snack, it was well past 1pm. Tanya, Sean, Jordy and I headed out to McAlpine for our respective long runs. Mine, of course, was the shortest, but the 8 miles I was attempting would be a pretty big deal for me. We started from Boyce, running through the wooded back trails before reaching the main trail with nothing but the sound of leaves crunching beneath our feet. Tanya and I let the boys go ahead and fell into an easy pace, though of course I was still laboring. When we reached the Footlocker course, facing a decent headwind into the first mile, I really started huffing and puffing. I was about to get discouraged until I happened to check our split at the first mile marker and saw that it read 6:50. Whoops. Definitely above my fitness right now. Nonetheless, we kept the pace pretty brisk (for me) for the next few miles, and when I split from Tanya to head back to the car I decided to keep the hammer down. It felt amazing to cover the first 7 miles right around 7-minute pace and then cool down uphill to the parking lot. This is something that only fellow runners would understand, but enjoying an hour run pain-free with my friends was pretty much the best birthday present I could've asked for.


Sean is the only person in the world who is older than me.

In the evening, we rounded up the group once again and headed out to dinner in NoDa. There wasn't much happening on a Sunday night, but I was happy just to share some good food and good conversation with my friends. And the Nutella Peanut Butter Pie for dessert certainly didn't hurt. All in all, I couldn't have picked a better way to spend my 27th birthday.