Long Runs #15 & #16: Back to river (and diner)

I apologize for not getting chatty about last week's long run ....  at the time, I think I thought I had more important things to write about.  (Like my Velma costume, of course!)

But at least one noteworthy thought is that I completed 2 successful 20-plus-milers this season and am still walking to tell about it.  Which I have not achieved in trainings of yore, and which is very good for the psyche of the future.  (Namely the 26-mile race 2 weeks from tomorrow.)

Word.

Not the easiest run.  Surest sign you're reached the end of a 4-month training program is that (much like REM might suggest) everything hurts.  Or, more accurately, aches.   Lower back. Hip sockets. IT band. Kneecaps. Shoulders.  The last 4 miles from the Science Museum and down the Rose Kennedy Greenway to home, I kept a running pace primarily because I repeated in my head, much like an overzealous motivational speaker:

"Almost there. Almost there.  Almost there.  Almost f***ing there.  You can do it.  Come on."

I was happy, though, to have returned to the Charles on a crisp afternoon quiet of runners but busy with a breeze strong enough to make waves on the water.  Those 13 miles of trails passed twice as quickly as the 7 it took to come and go from them.

Which is a primary reason I went back there this morning .... to get the job done with a minimum of fuss.  And thus it was so.  Again, it was quiet.  This past week was a typical November week of chilly rain and wind -- and as a result, the Blue Heron Trail in Watertown was obscured by enormous oak and maple leaves, melted together like soggy grocery bags.  However I failed to ever lose my balance.  The first 3 miles felt creaky -- the last 10, easy.

Of course, I was truly only motivated to run as hard and as much as I did by what was waiting for me at the end .... namely 4 of my best lady friends and a corner booth at the incomparable Deluxe Town Diner of Mt. Auburn Street.

Joy, Anne, Brandi & Christilyn post-feast

Where I was able to convivially and quite happily inhale yet another plate of food looking suspiciously just like this ....

Last seen August 15

.... that, despite being kind of loner, I found more fun to do in the company of friends.

A worthy morning, indeed.